On the road to the Ever Grande Conference
by NielsThomas1
Summary: Two friends go on a journey through Hoenn, to become Regional Champion. Team Aqua, Magma and Rocket have schemes planned. They will meet many different people. But, when an ancient threat reappears, only they can stop it. BEING REWRITTEN!
1. Our first Pokémon!

**IMPORTANT: THIS STORY IS CURRENTLY BEING REWRITTEN, THE FIRST CHAPTERS ARE TERRIBLE IN COMPARISON TO THE LAST FEW I WROTE FOR THIS. (notice placed 16th of March 2012) If you do want to read this despite a rewrite happening, please bear with the first few chapters, and know that the canon established here might not exist in the same way once the rewrie is done!**

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**Before the story actually begins, I would like to remind everyone that first chapters are usually slow.**

**Constructive criticism is appreciated, I want to improve this as much as I can.**

**Read and Review please!**

**Edit1 19/April/2011: Minor rewrite, mostly grammar stuff, however it is better readable now)**

**Edit2 16/March/2012: Rewrite of first 10 or so chapters has started, chapter 1 ETA April 1st 2012, every chapter afterwards a week later. **

It was quiet in Littleroot Town, the streets were empty, the only thing you could hear was the whistling of the bushes in the wind. Yet someone was already awake very early.

_'Today will be the day we start on our Pokémon journey.'_ He thought to himself as he looked at the clock standing next to his bed.

5 AM was standing on the display. It wouldn't be for another five hours that he would leave. His best friend was going to pick him up and together they would go to the Pokémon laboratory to get their first Pokémon.

He got up out of his bed. '_I won't be able to fall asleep now anyway.'_ He thought.

"Might as well get dressed." He said to himself as he walked towards the bathroom.

He looked up at the mirror which showed a 14-year old boy with short messy blond-hair standing in all directions as tiny spikes. His skin was slightly more pale then most other people around Littleroot, but he spent his days mostly inside playing video games, so that was to be expected. The eyes which stared at him were a bright blue color. And his name was Niels.

He got his blue jeans from his wardrobe, put on a black t-shirt and put a blue with red jacket over it. Shoes he did not put on, but they were black and blue colored sneakers.

His clock now showed 5:15 AM. "Well I'm going to guess that the game that arrived late last night will be played after all." He turned on the TV and one of his comsoles, and then put the disc of said game into it.

_**~=* 5 Hours Later*=~**_

Another boy was running through town. He was late (once again) and he knew it.

The boy by the name of Sander, was a tall boy with short and flat brown hair, he had his black jeans and a brown jacket on, and a green backpack on his back. His eyes were a mixture of brown and green.

"20 minutes late, ugh, at least he knows I never arrive on time." He said to himself as he looked at his watch.

_'But today was an important day, they could not be late today'_ He thought.

As he ran to the end of the street he already saw Niels standing outside, he could also see that he had that look on his face, the look he dreaded but got used to after so many times.

"Your late, as usual." Niels said to him.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, but I forgot to pack my backpack with food and clothes." Sander said with a big smile on his face.

"Alright, we should really get going, Professor Birch is expecting us. You absolutely sure you got everything packed, because we aren't returning here for probably a year."

They started running, fortunately the lab wasn't very far away.

"So..." Sander said while looking at Niels his backpack, "are you sure _you_ got everything you need in that backpack? It looks rather small," Sander asked Niels

"Yup, everything I need is in it, there isn't any room for Pokéballs, but I plan on clipping those on my belt anyway.

They arrived at the Pokémon lab. It was a small building, but most of it was located underground. They looked at each other and rang the doorbell.

It took a few moments before they got a response.

"This is Professor Birch, we have a slight problem here, could you come back tomorrow?"

A loud bang could be heard, as well as a scream from what they thought to be one of the assistants.

"Uhm, Professor? What's going on in there?" Niels asked.

"Oh, Niels is that you, that means Sander is with you right? Oh right, you two were going to get your first Pokémon today, I remember. I guess you could come on in then, you might even help us out here."

A buzz was heard, and the door clicked open.

"Is he still trying to study that rare Pokémon, I thought he gave up on it a week ago?" Sander said with a surprised look on his face.

As the two of them walked toward the Professor's office Niels said: "Maybe he has got a different one now, I hope he doesn't expect us to try and calm it down.

Niels opened the door and stepped inside. There was nobody there. '_Guess we'll have to wait here for him to show up.' _He thought.

Sander immediately walked the the right of the Professor's desk, there was a glass jar there, and inside were three Pokéballs. "Hey, we can pick one of these when he gets here, right?"

Niels looked at the poster to the left of the jar, Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip it said with a picture of each of the Pokémon next to the names. "Yeah, I think you are right. Do you know which one you are going to pick yet?" '_Atleast I know, as long as Sander doesn't want it that is, because then we are going to have a problem.'_

"Yeah, I am going to pick..." A door opened and Professor Birch stepped inside, his labcoat was slightly torn up but he had a smile on his face.

"So you are both here to start your Pokémon journey" He said.

"That's right!" They both replied simultaneously.

"And have you decided which Pokémon you will take with you? Think carefully, because once you have chosen, you can not trade them for a different one."

"I want a Torchic." Niels said.

"And I want a Mudkip." Sander said.

"Very well." Professor Birch turned around and opened the jar, he took out two of the Pokéballs and handed it to them.

Both of them looked at the ball, Niels was the first one to click the button in the middle.

The Pokéball opened and a red beam shot out, a second later, his Torchic stood in front of him. It was a red with orange, bird-like Pokémon.

"That is Torchic, the FireChick Pokémon," Professor Birch said. He then walked over to Sander who had also released his Pokémon, a Mudkip, from its ball. It was a blue Pokémon with orange star-like gills, a fin as a tail and another fin on top of its head.

"And this is a Mudkip, the Mud Fish Pokémon." He informed, though Sander knew what it was. "Go on, don't be shy!" He said after seeing Sander and Mudkip just sort of staring at eachother.

Niels wondered whether he was talking to Sander or the Mudkip at that moment, he grinned. And then looked back at his Torchic. "So buddy, do you want to be my Pokémon?" he asked.

"Tor-chicktor!" It responded while nodding and smiling, thinking that its new trainer could probably not understand his language.

"Good." Niels said with an even bigger smile on his face. Before he knew it Torchic had jumped up onto his shoulder, which startled him a little. When he looked back at Sander he could see that his Mudkip was sitting on his shoulder too but it looked more like Sander had put him up there himself.

"He'll get used to it, he is just a bit shy, that's all." Sander said while he was petting the Mudkip, it didn't seem to mind, but it wasn't going to trust him so easily.

When they looked back at Professor Birch they could see he was looking for something in the drawers of his desk. They could already see a dozen Pokéballs laying on the desk. When he finally turned around to face them again, they could see that he was holding two red devices.

"These are called Pokédexes, it is pretty much an encyclopedia on every known Pokémon."

"You can also take 6 Pokéballs each with you, but remember, you can only hold six Pokémon with you at a time, any other Pokémon will get sent to me, until you decide to swap your Pokémon."

"Ok got it." After a few seconds Niels decided to ask the Professor something: "Ehm, do you still need help with that issue you had earlier on?" Niels asked.

"No, no, no everything is fine." Professor Birch said with a forced smile.

Clearly not everything was 'fine', but they decided not to ask any further, they wouldn't want to battle a Pokémon that was rampaging through the underground labs anyway.

"If that is all, then we will be on our way." Sander said.

"Yes, alright, you can show yourselves out right? I have things to take care of. Goodbye, and good luck on your journey!"

"Thanks, and goodbye." They both said as they waved at the Professor, who was clearly with his mind already somewhere else already.

_'It certainly has been a week of starting trainers here, those two yesterday seemed nice enough, I wonder if the four of them will ever meet.' _Birch thought to himself. _And I am running out of Torchics...' _He then sighed and headed downstairs, knowing the horror t'hat would await him there.

_**~=*Outside*=~**_

As they were walking towards the beginning of Route 101, they both examined their Pokémon.

"Alright then, this is where we start the journey, we should reach Oldale Town by the end of the day..."

"...and then head straight to Petalburg city tomorrow for our first Gym Battle." Sander said.

"It concerns me that you think it will be a push-over." Niels looked at him. "Especially considering that you Mudkip doesn't exactly trust you."

"We can take on the whole world if we have to, now let's get the show on the road!"

And they walked on towards Oldale Town, their adventure however, has yet to begin.

**A/N: Yeah, first chapter. And my first time actually writing something.  
It feels a bit slow, but then again, it is. Introductions, etc. I get complete freedom to write whatever I want now.  
This took me about 2 hours to write, minus proof-reading, editing and all that good stuff.**

**I decided on the age of 14 being the minimum requirement to start your journey, I always felt that 10 was too young.**

**And do you know who those other two people were? I give you three guesses!**

**I want to try and put up atleast one Chapter a week.  
Constructive criticism is appreciated. ;)**


	2. Capture Madness!

**Edit 9/5/2011: A/N: This chapter is rather short, especially compared to my later chapters ;)**

**Went through a minor 'grammar' rewrite on the 3rd of December 2011.**

Route 101, not a place where you would normally find many trainers looking for Pokémon, and today was no exception. It was quiet, with the faint cries of Pokémon to be heard in the distance, far away from the main path.

Two boys were walking on this path, one of them seemed eager to catch the first Pokémon he would see as he was walking with a Pokéball in his hand, much to the annoyance of the other.

"You have got to be kidding me, there are no Pokémon here that could even get remotely strong." Niels said with a sigh. "So I don't get why you would want to catch one here."

"Well, let's just say that you can never have enough Pokémon to begin with, and who knows, maybe I will find a strong Pokémon here, then we will see who is the smart one." Sander said back to Niels.

As they were continuing on on their path, they heard something rustling in the bushes, both of them turned their heads to see what it was. It was a brown and white Pokémon

Niels pulled out his Pokédex: "Zigzagoon, the TinyRaccoon Pokémon. Rubbing its nose against the ground, it always wanders about back and forth in search of something. It is distinguished by the zigzag footprints it leaves." The Pokédex told them.

The Zigzagoon then looked at them curiously before running away.

"Hey, wait up!" Sander shouted at it as he ran after him. Not letting this perfect opportunity get away.

"While you are attempting to catch that thing, I'll have lunch if you don't mind." Niels managed to quickly say before Sander vanished between the trees.

He put down his backpack on the ground, then sat against a tree. He opened up his backpack, removing a couple of sandwiches, his DS and a bowl, he then proceeded to open up a small bag and empty it in the bowl.

"Alright, come on out and have some lunch too." He said as he took a Pokéball off of his belt and released the Pokémon inside.

"Torchic!" It said as he approached the bowl with a curious look on its face, before taking a bite and then just putting its entire head in the bowl.

Niels laughed, he took a bite from his own sandwich before starting up his DS and playing a game on it.

He turned around when he heard another rustle in the bushes. _'That would be Sander.' _He thought as he looked back at his DS when suddenly a brown and white furred creature jumped right next to his face.

"What the... well, I guess catching that Zigzagoon didn't work out well." He grinned, and then looked back down at his DS, which to his surprise was gone. And so were the sandwiches and the Pokémon food he gave his Torchic, although he wasn't sure if that was the Zigzagoon's or Torchic's fault.

"That sneaky bastard," he stood up and looked at Torchic which looked back at him with the same fury in his eyes as Niels had. "Let's go after him!"

_~=*With Sander*=~_

_'Aww man, I was sure it went this way'. _He thought, this was not the plan he so cleverly thought out. It was simple, run after it and then throw a Pokéball at it. But the Zigzagoon had out sped him, and now he had no idea where he was. To make things worse, he could feel that he was being watched by someone, or something.

"Go Mudkip!" he shouted as he threw a Pokéball, revealing a blue Pokémon that looked much like a fish. "Use your Water Gun on that tree!"

"Mudkiiip" His Mudkip said as a blue jet of water came out of its mouth, which hit something, as they both heard a growl of anger coming from the place were the Water Gun just hit.

A gray with black Pokémon appeared. Sander took out his own Pokédex this time: "Poochyena, the Bite Pokémon. A Pokémon with a persistent nature, it chases its chosen prey until the prey becomes exhausted.

"That doesn't sound good. I guess we have to fight this one. Are you ready Mudkip?"

"Mudkip!" it nodded

The Poochyena started charging toward Mudkip. "Quick evade it, and then use Tackle!" Sander commanded the Mudkip. Mudkip barely managed to evade it but hit full power with its own Tackle.

The Poochyena got a little dazed by the hit but quickly recovered, it then shoved it paws forward, making sand fly up toward Mudkip which got hit by the full attack. Mudkip looked back up at Poochyena but it could barely see its opponent.

_'Hmm, I need to end this now or Mudkip could be in a lot of trouble.'_ He thought. "Now use your Water Gun again!" At that command Mudkip released another jet of water, which hit the Poochyena straight in its head, knocking it unconscious.

Sander quickly realized the chance he he now had and threw a Pokéball at the Poochyena, which upon hit turned into a red glow and and got transported into the Pokéball. It wiggled for a few seconds and then shut tightly.

"Yes! We got a Poochyena!" He said to his Mudkip "Come on, now we need to find our way back to Niels, I don't really care for that Zigzagoon anymore." He smiled at he Pokéball in his hand, if they were to battle soon, he would have the advantage.

_~=*With Niels*=~_

"Alright, I got you cornered, now hand over the stuff you stole!" Niels said with an angry tone to the Zigzagoon, which didn't even blink. It just stood there, watching carefully what the human would do.

"You leave me with no choice, Torchic use your Ember attack!" Instantly flames spat out of the Torchic's mouth, severely damaging the Zigzagoon.

But then all of a sudden it moved, with an enormous speed it ran towards Torchic, hitting it with its head. Torchic flinched, but decided to take matter into its own hands by releasing another Ember attack. This attack burned the Zigzagoon, his wounds were clearly visible.

_'That is one persistent Pokémon. Maybe it would be beneficial to catch it.' _"Ok, let's finish this, Torchic use your tackle attack! Torchic hit the Zigzagoon, knocking it out, and by doing so it released the DS, sandwiches and Pokémonfood from its fur.

"Pokéball, GO!" Niels shouted as he threw a Pokéball towards the Zigzagoon, once captured it instantly snapped shut.

"Heh, would you look at that Torchic. Our first capture!" As he picked up the Pokéball and clipped it back onto his belt.

"Tor-tor" Torchic said back to him.

Footsteps sounded behind him, so he turned around. It was Sander. "Hey, there you are." He said. "I thought you would stay at the place were I left you."

Niels thought a few moments before answering _'He won't have to know I have that Zigzagoon yet, it __will surely give me an advantage when we will hold our first battle.' _He shrugged."I just decided to take a quick look around this place, see if there would be something interesting. So did you manage to capture your Zigzagoon?"

Sander smiled. "No," he said. "But I got something better, a Poochyena!" And he held a Pokéball proudly in front of Niels.

"Well guess I will see that once we reach Oldale. And I want to battle you too once our Pokémon are in the best shape they can be." Niels said.

"You can try your best of course, but I don't think you stand a chance against my Mudkip." Sander said with a big smile, knowing very well that he had a type-advantage against Niels his Torchic.

And they started walking to Oldale, which was slowly coming into their sight. But they did not know what would await them once they arrived there.

**A/N**

**And there you go, Chapter 2.**

**Both have their first Pokémon, and it will be a while before they get their next one. And what will await them in Oldale? Only I know ;)**

**Review please, I want to improve my writing.**


	3. Prepare for Trouble!

Two boys slowly walked past the last few trees on Route 101. They saw the Town of Oldale laying in front of them.

"Well, I told you we would be here by the end of the day." Niels said to Sander.

"I guess you were right then. Race you to the Pokémon Center!" Sander said back as he started to run towards the red building they could see in the distance.

While they were running, Niels thought he saw a couple of shady characters standing in an alley out of the corner of his eye. But when he turned his head, they were gone. _'I must be seeing things, I should probably get some rest.'_

They entered the Pokémon Center and saw a lot of people sitting and standing around, or talking to each other. Pokémon Centers were, aside from healing centers for Pokémon, also hotels where trainers could stay one night for free.

A couple of Chansey were walking around, some bringing Pokémon back to their trainers while others were taking care of some Pokémon on the spot.

Niels and Sander decided to go to the woman behind a counter, who was taking Pokémon over from trainers to get healed. She had blue eyes, pink hair and was wearing a pink and white nurse outfit.

"You know Nurse Joy's and Officer Jenny's always freak me out a bit. Let's be honest here, someone must have had milliontuplets or something. It's just plain weird. Niels said, which made Sander chuckle.

"Hello, how can I help you?" Nurse Joy said with a smile that was the trademark of the Pokémon Centers. Because they were all known for their kindness.

"We would like to get our Pokémon healed back to peak condition!" Niels said as he handed over two of his Pokéballs to her, this caused Sander to look confused at him.

"I thought you didn't catch any Pokémon back on Route 101." He said to Niels while he handed over his own Pokéballs.

"You never asked if I did, did you? Which means you don't know which other Pokémon I have when you battle me. Anyway, how long will this take Nurse Joy?

"It won't be long," She was scanning the Pokémon's vitals with a machine. "I will have a Chansey bring the Pokémon back to you once they are healed." She said, and with that she put the Pokéballs on a conveyor belt to the back of the Pokémon Center.

Niels and Sander took a seat in the lobby, both thinking out their strategies for when they would battle, even though neither of them had challenged the other to do so, they knew that they would battle.

Suddenly Niels realized something, where would they battle, as far as he knew Oldale did not have a separate training field like most cities did. Then again, he hadn't been here for years.

He decided to ask someone.

"Erm, excuse me sir? Do you know if there is a training field for Pokémon in Oldale?" He just asked to the nearest stranger. An adult wearing a black outfit turned around.

"No, I don't, now get lost!" He just said bluntly and then turned around to face the person he was talking to earlier.

"Asshole." Niels said as he turned around and walked to another person he caught a few words, "Idiot...show...face!" was what he heard.

He looked back to Sander who already got the Pokéballs back from a Chansey, Niels still saw the Chansey walking away. _'Good, that means he hasn't had time to check which Pokémon I actually caught.'_

"So do you know where we can battle?" He asked as Niels walked up to him and took the two Pokéballs Sander was offering him.

"No, change of plan. We are going to check what those two are doing." He pointed at the two leaving the Pokémon Center.

"Why?" Sander asked confused.

"I think they are either up to something, or they have already done something. Let's go." And they walked off.

They followed the two for a while, making sure that they wouldn't get noticed by either of them. They were slowly getting to the outskirts of Oldale, far away from the Pokémon Center, and not close to anyone that would be able to help them, should they get in trouble.

Suddenly the two people went in an alley, both Niels and Sander looked around the corner to see what was going on. There was a Pokémon in there that Niels recognized, but he didn't remember the name of it. The two opened up the box, which showed a large amount of Pokéballs in it.

"Hehe, that went off without a problem whatsoever. I think the boss will be happy with these Pokémon once there are back to full strength."A woman spoke.

"And to think that those dumb trainers are still thinking that their Pokémon are in the intensive care." Both of them started laughing maniacally.

Niels and Sander turned backed around and looked at each other. With the same battle-hardened expression on their face as they had only a few times earlier in their lives.

"Alright, show's over, those Pokémon aren't yours, so give them to us and we will get them back to the Pokémon Center." Niels decided to say. Both had their Pokéballs in their hand ready to throw them if they had to.

Suddenly a random spotlight turned on, and the two criminals slowly turned around, grinning madly.

"Prepare for trouble..." The woman said.

"...and make it double!" The other, the man Niels spoke to earlier, said.

"To infect the world with devastation!"

"To blight all people in every nation!"

"To denounce the goodness of truth and love!"

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"

"Cassidy!"

"And Butch, of course!"

"We're Team Rocket, circling Earth all day and night!"

"Surrender to us now or you will surely lose the fight!"

"Raaaticate!"

Sander was just looking at them with with an expression on his face like he could burst out laughing in just a few seconds. Niels decided to speak first: "That must be the lamest motto I have ever heard." he said, while his Torchic was slowly moving in front of him as he had already called out his Pokémon.

"Nobody asked your opinion, now both of you hand over your Pokémon!" Cassidy said with an angry tone.

"And why would we do that?" Sander said. "You are outnumbered by two to one."

Niels in the meantime was taking out his Pokédex to check the information on that Raticate. "Raticate the Mouse Pokémon. Its rear feet have three toes each. They are webbed, enabling it to swim across rivers.

_'First of all, it's a rat not a mouse. Second, what good does that information do?' _Niels thought as both Butch and Cassidy realized that these trainers were not going to hand them over without a fight.

"You think YOU outnumber US?" Butch laughed. "Numbers aren't everything kid, we don't have to hurt you, but if you leave us no choice then..."

"Raticate use your Hyper Fang attack" Cassidy screamed.

"Torchic use your Ember attack!" Niels commanded Torchic as he realized that the Raticate was going after Sander's Mudkip which he had called out right after Niels his Torchic appeared on the field.

"Torchiiic" it screamed as a few tiny flames got out of its mouth hitting the Raticate with its power. But the Raticate just ignored it and its Hyper Fang struck Mudkip, sending in backwards into a wall. Barely able to get back up on its feet.

"You see, you are no match for us, now Raticate finish off that other Pokémon too."

"Raaaticaaate!" it said as it moved forward hitting the Torchic straight in the chest. It was instantly knocked out.

Niels just looked at his fallen Torchic, dumbfounded. But then something dazed into him, he heard sirens. And Cassidy and Butch heard them too. "We will get your Pokémon some other time you brat." And they ran off with the box filled with Pokéballs in their hands.

Niels and Sander both recalled their Pokémon and headed back to the Pokémon Center with a defeated look on their face, as the sirens moved closer and closer to them.

_~-*At the Pokemon Center, late at night*-~_

They got a big room to stay in at the Center as only a few of the rooms were taken, most were still available. The room consisted of two bunk beds, a small bathroom and a tv.

Their Pokémon were downstairs, being taken care of throughout the night, police were making sure that everything was guarded as they didn't want another heist to occur. They had been up until late answering questions from the police. But eventually they became tired of it, and went to sleep.

Both Niels and Sander were already asleep. Sander was laying quietly, but Niels was not.

_'He was in a room he didn't recognize, there was fire everywhere, explosions and the screaming of people could be heard in the distance._

_He stood in front of a rather large man, he was wearing a black outfit but that was about all he could see, the smoke was making it difficult to see his head. He was also holding a gun in his right hand and was pointing it at Niels._

"_This ends here, I have had enough of your meddling." and he pulled the trigger_

_Niels felt a comforting hand on his shoulder and looked to the right, but all he saw was a white glow which was shaped as a human, but looked nothing like one at the same time. Then he got struck by the bullet.'_

"WHAT THE HELL-" Niels jolted up out of his bed, breathing rapidly and feeling his heart pounding at an enormous speed in his chest. He looked at the other bed, Sander was still sleeping. He lied down again, but kept his eyes open, a thousand thoughts swirling through his mind.

**A/N: Now that was an exciting end isn't it. **

**And the introduction of Cassidy and Butch. Which got a complete rewrite because I wasn't happy with the first version of it ;)**

**And no they wont show up as much as the trio does in the anime, but this wont be the last time.**

**I don't even know how much of Team Rocket will show up aside from the duo and trio.**

**I want to thank 'Burning Moon of the Sky' for being the first person to review :D**

**As for OC's, this is what I need to know: Name, Age, Gender, Occupation (Trainer, Breeder, Villain (Aqua/Magma/Rocket) etc.), Appearance, Pokemon (Future Pokémon if I intend to use them again later on) and Personality. **

**Either send them with a PM, or leave them next to your review. (OC's left there without a review will not be used with the exception of the one that was already there!) I will reply to you once I know where I will use them and in which chapter.**

**Review please.**


	4. Trainer Battle 1!

**Big thank you to: 'Burning Moon of the Sky', 'Joker'sTwinBro-FlameOfRecca's', 'A Sea Of Sound' and 'MeguMegu3.0' for reviewing the last chapter, it means a lot to me.**

**I also noticed an incredible drop in view count (by half), I think it is the time I put the last chapter up, I am going to experiment a little with that.**

**Proofreading edit: I almost forgot eye colors again -.- : Niels = Bright Blue, Sander is Brown.**

**Anyway, without further delay, here is Chapter 4.**

"Wake up!" Sander heard someone shout at him, he only got up when something was thrown at him.

"What did you do that for?" He shouted back, and got out of bed. "I was already awake." Sander grumbled as he opened his eyes and looked outside through the window. "Are you mental? It's still dark outside."

"The sun is just coming up, but we have a lot to do. We need to get our Pokémon back, have breakfast and then head on to Petalburg City over Route 102." Niels simply said back at him. "I thought you couldn't wait for your Gym Battle."

Sander immediately remembered that that was what they were going to do and rushed into the bathroom to take a shower.

Niels just shook his head. "I am heading downstairs, I'll pick up your Mudkip while I'm at it."

He waited for an answer, but then decided to go ahead and leave the room. _'He heard me.' _He thought.

Their Pokémon wouldn't be happy about the beating they received yesterday. They had some explaining to do, it would probably be best to get that out of the way first.

_~=*In the Dining Area*=~_

It was a nice room, that was well lit, and was decorated with plants everywhere. Breakfast was already available and there were a few people sitting there, eating and chatting to one another. But since it was still early most tables were free. Niels walked up to one of them, turning around the plates as a signal that this table was now taken.

Then he went to grab a bowl of cereal with milk, an apple, pancakes and some croissants from the buffet table and went back to his own table.

"Might as well get this over with." As he picked a Pokéball from his belt, and called out the Pokémon that was in it. His orange friend got out.

"Hey, listen I'm sorry for what happened last night, but I really thought we could take them on." Niels said to Torchic, who didn't look too angry, but it was best to know for sure. "So are we friends again?"

Torchic just nodded and ran away, it had seen the stash of Pokémon Food up for grabs and he wanted to eat it all. Niels smiled as he saw the little bird run away, then he focused on his own food and dug in.

Suddenly Sander came sitting on the other end of the table. While he put down multiple plates of food in front of him, Niels just looked at him in horror.

"You are not seriously going to eat all of that?" Niels just said, with a look on his face as if he was getting sick. "I knew you ate much but this... this just... I don't even have a word for it."

"Well good, this is an all you can eat buffet so it's their own fault, now if you don't mind, can I eat? Sander said as he started shoving in every bit of food on the table through his mouth.

Niels's face slowly got green. "Ok, if I am going to stay sitting here watching you eat, I will throw up. Meet me outside when you're done. Oh, and here is your Mudkip." He could hear a muffled "OK" so Niels laid down a Pokéball on the table and walked to his Torchic, picked him up and sat him down on his shoulder, he then proceeded to walk outside.

He looked around and saw a few people watching a battle between a Grovyle and a Shroomish. _'Might as well take a peek.' _He thought as he walked towards the battle. He couldn't hear what the trainers were saying but he could see that the Grovyle was charging forward with an attack called Leaf Blade which turned the leaves on Grovyle's arms into a single long blade-like leaf.

He hit the Shroomish, instantly knocking it out. He saw both trainers recalling their Pokémon as he felt someone familiar standing next to him.

"How is that even possible?" He said as he looked at Sander who had a tendency to sneak up on him unnoticed, he hated it, because he was one of the few who managed to do so.

"How is what even possible?" Sander said back as he looked away and at the two trainers.

"Two things, but you can figure them out by yourself. Ready to go?" Niels asked.

"Of course! So did those two guys did anything spectacular in the battle?" Sander asked as they turned around towards the Western border of Oldale Town.

"I only saw the ending, I have to say that Grovyle is pretty strong, at least I think so."

Sander smiled, "Having second thoughts now, have you?"

Niels decided it was better not to answer that, he could feel that his Torchic was listening in. However when he looked at it his eyes were closed, and it looked like he was asleep.

_~=*On Route 102*=~_

There seemed to be a lot more Pokémon on Route 102, then there were on Route 101. More different species for sure, but they seemed to not care about trainers either. But they were all in groups and it didn't seem like a smart idea to just battle or catch one of them, because they were likely to all attack at the same time.

Torchic looked curiously at these Pokémon, most were unknown to him, thanks to being in the Pokémon lab most of his life.

Suddenly they saw someone sitting besides the road looking at them. _'I don't trust him' _ Niels immediately thought. There was something strange about him.

"Is he a vampire?" Sander whispered to Niels. "I mean look at him, he has got the most pale skin I have ever seen, and his eyes are blood red.

Niels had to agree with Sander on that, but they had to get past him in order to go to Petalburg City, and vampires didn't exist.

"You shall not pass." A deep voice said. "You will battle me, and if you lose, I will get your Pokémon."

He stood up, he was wearing a complete gray attire consisting of gray pants, a gray short sleeved shirt, gray hiking boots, gray gloves with small claws at the end of each fingertip, gray short sleeved hoodie with pointy furry dog ears sticking straight up on the top of the hood, there was also something around his neck, but Niels couldn't see what. His age seemed to be around their own.

_'Or he's a dog.' _Sander thought to himself when he saw what he was wearing.

The boy started laughing and with a normal voice he said: "I am just joking around with you." Niels and Sander didn't smile, after what had happened in Oldale they didn't like the possibility of their Pokémon being stolen.

"But I do want to battle!" He said with still the smile on his face.

"What you think you are, funny or something?" Niels decided to say to his comment earlier on.

"I don't care what you think, I do what I want to do." He replied.

"Heh, I'll show y-" Niels said before being cut off by Sander. "I want to battle him."

He had a confident look on his face, so Niels nodded and stood between the two. "What is your name anyway?

"Szac is my name, and yours?" He said before looking back to Sander and saying with a smile "You sure you can win from a 'vampire'?"

"My name is Niels, that..." pointing at his friend whom Szac was going to battle. "...is Sander."

_'Alright so he has amazing ears, I can take this guy on, Mudkip will wipe the field of whatever his Pokémon is.' _Sander thought to himself as he readied his Pokéball in his hand.

"This will be a 1v1 Pokémon Battle between Sander and Szac, trainers choose your Pokémon!" Niels shouted and took a few steps back placing his Torchic on the ground. _'This ought to be interesting.'_

"Go Poochyena!" Szac yelled as he threw his Pokéball in front of him, when it hit the floor a Poochyena came out.

"Mudkip, I choose you!" Sander threw out his own Pokéball revealing his Mudkip.

Mudkip stared at the Poochyena for a moment, then look behind him to Sander. Then it ran off towards Niels's Torchic and began chatting with it while having an angry look on its face.

Niels just shook his head, one word went through his mind _'Idiot.' _He looked back at Sander who quickly recovered from the shock and took out his next Pokémon. Throwing it and revealing a Poochyena as well.

Szac seemed surprised at first but his smile never went off of his face. "So you also have a Poochyena, are you sure you can control him, as it seems like your Mudkip doesn't exactly like you.

"Poochyena versus Poochyena BEGIN!" Niels shouted.

"Let's start this with a Poison Fang attack, Poochyena!" Szac commanded.

"Pooch" it screamed as it ran forward and bit the other Poochyena.

Sander's Poochyena howled with pain as he got hit. But that was not all that happened, it seemed like he was poisoned.

"Alright, time we show them what were made of, Poochyena use your Tackle attack, and follow it up with a Bite!"

Yena-Pooch" It tried hitting the other Poochyena with a tackle attack but it evaded just in time, the Bite however did hit him, causing him to cringe a little but it seemed to take the attack well in him.

Szac just smiled "You do know that Bite is a Dark-type move, and those kind of moves have only little effect on Poochyena's?" He said, causing Sander to think really fast on what he could do.

He didn't know what to do. The other Poochyena was obviously stronger then his, and if bite didn't work then what? _'I need to buy some time' _Poochyena Sand-Attack!

Szac's Poochyena got hit in the eyes with the sand, temporarily clouding it's full vision, which gave Sander a chance to attack. "Now hit him with a Tackle!" Which was the best thing he could come up with.

"Oh no you don't, Poochyena dodge and use your own, then finish it off with a Take Down!" Szac commanded.

As Sander's Poochyena ran forward it didn't notice that the other one could still hear him, which made it dodge to the left, then it followed up with it's own Tackle, which knocked the Poochyena belonging to Sander to the ground. Then came the Take Down attack, as he got hit it cried out in pain for a few seconds before fainting.

"Well that was fun." Szac said after a few seconds. "But I have to leave, I am on a tight schedule and don't want to fall behind, training time is over. Maybe we will meet again, and then it is your turn." As he pointed towards Niels. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye." Niels said, Sander didn't say a word.

He recalled both of his Pokémon and went for a walk. Niels watched him as he walked into the deeper area of the route.

_'Guess that means we are staying here for the night, better set up camp then.' _Niels thought. "Want to help me find a suitable spot for it? He asked his Torchic.

"Torchic-Tor" And it ran off.

**A/N: And that concludes Chapter 4.**

**I wrote that pretty fast actually, anyway first use of an OC given to me. I hope that the person who submitted this is happy with how it turned out, if not then well just PM me. It will get better the more I write.**

**The main problem with writing is the first and last few lines, everything in between is easy, but just takes some time.**

**Chapter 5 and 6 are completely written out in my head, so expect those up soon, in 2 and 4 days respectively (But don't be angry if they don't). I also already have an idea for Chapter 7.**

**Next chapter we hit Petalburg and go to the first Gym.**

**Review Please!**


	5. Gymbattle! Or not?

**You wake up at 6 in the morning, go to school and then find out that the teacher decided to take a day off... What a crappy day this is.**

**Anyway, it gives me more time to write ;)**

**I want to thank: "That's the way I roll", "twilight8899", "Joker'sTwinBro-FlameOfRecca's" and "3rdbase101" for reviewing. You are all awesome.**

**If you want to send in an OC: this is what I need to know: ****Name, Age, Gender, Occupation (Trainer, Breeder, Villain (Aqua/Magma/Rocket) etc.), Appearance, Pokemon (Future Pokémon if I intend to use them again later on) and Personality****. (Don't send me Pokémon moves for the Pokémon please) And try to keep your grammar at least decent. And include a review, otherwise I won't look at it.**

They had spent a day and night on Route 102, Sander seemed to have made up with Mudkip again and he came back after what he called 'extreme training' to the camp, with supposedly stronger Pokémon. Niels hadn't been sitting still either, using the opportunity to train both of his Pokémon too.

The sun was already up and the two boys were packing their stuff, ready to leave for Petalburg City. They had spent the entire day training until late at night, neither of them looked awake, let alone be ready for a Gym battle.

"I am not going to sleep in this thing for a while, hopefully..." Niels said while he was yawning. "I barely got any sleep."

"No kidding, I have never slept in the outside air before. Cold, noisy and what not. Let's just hope we reach Petalburg, or tomorrow we won't be able to go any further." Sander said back.

Normally Niels would have smiled at that, but he could not bring up the energy to do so, until he saw something, a blue small reptilian Pokémon. He pulled out his Pokédex to see if what he thought was true. "Bagon, the Rock Head Pokémon, Its steel-hard head can shatter boulders. It longingly hopes for wings to grow so it can fly."

_'I thought I would not be able to capture one of those until the Meteor Falls' _He thought. He readied his Pokéball containing his Torchic. Sander noticed this, and he looked to his left where he saw an unfamiliar Pokémon.

"Go, Torchic!" Niels yelled as he threw his Pokéball.

The Bagon had finally noticed that he wasn't safe here, but it also realized that it couldn't get away, thus it attacked, it opened its mouth and out of it shot a green and yellow beam. It hit Torchic, sending it backwards.

"That was Dragonbreath, alright Torchic start off with an Ember attack!"

"Tor!" Torchic fired the tiny flames from his mouth, but the Bagon did the same, and when they collided it created minor explosions.

"Ba-Gooooon" As the Bagon rushed forward and hitting Torchic with a Headbutt. "Tooooor"

Bagon seemed to have the upper hand, as Torchic was quickly being drained from its energy.

"Now Torchic use a Peck attack! Then hit him with another Ember from up close!" Niels commanded

Torchic hit the Bagon with a Peck then proceeded to once again shoot tiny flames from his mouth, this time though, they hit. Bagon crashed down on the ground beneath him but instantly recovered standing on his feet again. But it was still a bit dizzy from the attack.

It tried using its Headbutt again, however it didn't even run near Torchic before hitting a tree and coming to a standstill.

_'This is my chance.' _"Go, Pokéball!" Niels said as he threw his Pokéball towards the Bagon which had already gotten up once again after slamming itself into the tree.

The Pokéball hit the Bagon, transporting it inside of the capsule. It wiggled for about ten seconds, before snapping shut.

"YES! I got a Bagon!" "Torchic-Tor-Tor" Both Niels and Torchic said.

"Nice catch, I have to say that I thought it would come back out of the Pokéball again." Sander said. He put on his backpack. "So, ready to go, and get our first badge?"

Niels nodded while putting on his own backpack, after which they started walking towards Petalburg City.

_~=*In Petalburg City, in front of the Gym*=~_

After getting to Petalburg, they decided to heal up their Pokémon and head straight to the Gym to not waste any time.

The Gym was a big building, not in height but in length. Of course it was necessary to house the field on which trainers would battle. The building was made of wood with glass windows and had an old Japanese style roof.

Sander decided to knock on the door. It took a few moments before they heard someone opening the door. It was a man who opened the door, he had short navy-colored hair, a red shirt with tiny black stripes going down vertically and a blue pair of trousers on.

He was looking at the two trainers in front of him, knowing what they would ask. "Yes?" He spoke.

"We are here to challenge you to a match!" Sander replied.

Norman, which was the Gym Leaders name, looked at them for a few more seconds. "You are beginner trainers aren't you? You will waste your time trying to battle me."

"But being a beginner does not mean one can't win. Everyone has to make a challenge to a Gym Leader at some point." Niels came back at him. "Besides, you only learn from losing."

"And I am a busy man, there are not only other challengers who are much more suited then you to battle me, there is also the fact that I will seriously injure your Pokémon as they will not be able to withstand an attack from my Pokémon." Norman saw the disappointment in their faces. "Return here once you have four or more badges, then you might have a shot of beating me."

And with that he closed the door of the Gym, leaving a baffled Niels and Sander behind. A Gym Leader just closed the door on them saying that they weren't good enough without even giving them a chance to show their skill.

They slowly looked at each other, Niels's confusion slowly turning into anger.

He picked up a rock from the ground and threw it through a window. "That should get his attention, and it makes me feel a lot better." He said while he opened his backpack and getting a check and a pen out. "How much do you think that window costs?" He asked Sander with a smile before writing down a number and some other information before putting it in the mailbox.

After waiting for another few minutes they decided to leave, Norman was obviously not going to show up.

"I am going back to the Pokémon Center, you coming?" Sander asked.

"Nah, I am going for a stroll around the park for a while." Niels replied.

"Alright, see ya later"

_~=*In the Petalburg Park*=~_

A loud crash was what he heard behind him, he turned around and hurried to where it came from.

He saw a minor crater with two people, one male and one female, and a Pokémon in it. All three of them had a look of defeat on their faces.

"Blasted off again..." The man said.

"Can I help you?" Niels asked the trio.

"Nobody can help us we are los-ARGH." The man said before being smacked by the woman.

"Actually," She said with a grin. "If you ever come across a group of twerps then steal the Pikachu back that belongs to one of them, you see, they stole him from us."

"A group of 'twerps'?" Niels asked, he didn't take these guys seriously.

"Becauz dat Pikachu is of great value to us, and we'd make it well worth ya time." the Pokémon spoke.

"A talking Pokémon?" Niels was astonished but decided not to give any attention to it. "And how would I know when I have the right group anyway?"

"Alright, the first one is the main twerp the Pikachu always sits on his shoulder, then there is the twerpette, the tall twerp and the mini-twerp. Got it?" The man said having been recovered from the smack earlier.

Niels still looked at them as if he didn't believe a word, how would he even be able to know who they meant to begin with. "And if I take the job, how would I contact you?"

All three of them were now broadly smiling. "Once we know that the twerp's Pikachu is gone, then we will look for you, good luck!" And they ran off.

_'Dumbest villains ever... Telling a plan to someone they don't even know.' _He thought, when an idea hatched into his mind, they were also from Team Rocket, pointed out by the big purple R on their outfits. _'Maybe I can use that Pikachu to lure in Biff and Cassidy to get revenge.'_ Then again, he would first have to find it, and that did not seem like something he would do, but maybe if they would meet a day, he'd remember this conversation.

What Niels didn't know is that someone was listening to the entire conversation.

_~=*At the Pokémon Center*=~_

When Niels entered the Pokémon Center he was immediately startled by Sander who tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, I think we should just leave this place, head for Rustboro, there is nothing to do here anyway." He said.

Niels thought about this for a moment, he was right though, what could they do here. There was another gym in Rustboro, although it did mean going through the Petalburg Woods, which had recently been given a negative travelers advice because of a Beedril infestation. "I guess you are right. I hope you are ready to leave immediately then."

And they headed off to the Petalburg Woods, with a probability of catching some Bug Pokémon while they were there

**A/N: Alright that turned out OK, though it could have been better, next chapter will be, I PROMISE!**

**Originally Team Rocket wasn't going to be in here at all, but I wanted to make the trio appear earlier, though not as enemies. Hell, when I had the idea of the trio appearing I also thought about making Giovanni appear with him hiring Niels as a freelancer to catch some rare Pokémon for him. But eventually that didn't even get written.**

**I don't plan on staying in big cities like this for so short most of the time. However we will be back here at some point, maybe sooner then you think ;)**

**Will the Beedril infestation mean trouble? Ofcourse it will, or will it? (I'm just screwing with your minds now, only I know :D**

**Also the next OC will be in Chapter 7! But which one?**

**Review please.**


	6. Beedrills are not friendly!

**A/N: Next chapter! The Bagon will be explained in this one, so stop commenting about it, Thanks.**

**I want to thank: 'A Sea of Sound', 'Yuki-Judai123' and 'That's the way I roll' for reviewing the last chapter.**

The two friends had made it to the edge of the Petalburg Woods, located not far from Petalburg City. Travelers were advised to be cautious about their surroundings because attacks from wild Pokémon could happen at any moment. The woods have proved to be a place of both fear and luck before, some travelers got through without a problem, others weren't so lucky.

And now they were about to traverse through it. They could see several people who were camping at the edge of the woods, also getting ready to enter, preferably with a group. Yet it was proven that entering with a large group just attracted more attention, which meant that none of these people were from Hoenn.

"We have to go in right?" Sander asked. "There is no other way?"

"Not unless you want to go back to Oldale and then go north from there, besides it would be a giant detour." Niels replied as he stepped inside. "Come on, we'll be fine." And he walked further in.

Sander immediately ran after him, not wanting to lose sight and getting lost inside.

_~=*5 Minutes later*=~_

They heard a scream of someone who was obviously terrified.

"Ok, that's it. lets take the detour." Sander said, now more concerned about getting out of here as fast a possible.

Sander already turned around when Niels grabbed him by the arm. "Be quiet, I hear something else."

They stood perfectly still for a few seconds before a faint buzzing noise could be heard. "Beedrills. But they are not nearby, probably after the one who was screaming a few seconds ago." Niels noted.

Sander looked at Niels and already knew what was coming. "No, we are not going to help whoever is in trouble. He said, but Niels was already running off towards the direction of the scream.

Sander sighed, _'This is going to be a long day.' _and ran after him.

Eventually they came to a more open area, and like Niels suspected there was a girl who was being chased by at least a dozen Beedrill. The girl had dark brown hair which came out of the back of her white and pink cap and from the side of it, a black vest with a white shirt underneath, blue cuffed shorts with 2 white 'fins' coming out of them, a pair of black and pink wristbands and black and pink boots. She was also carrying a pink handbag. Not to mention, she had an absolutely terrified look on her face.

She noticed them and almost wanted to run towards them, but her brain told her it was best not to get the attention focused on all three of them.

Niels took out a Pokéball in his hand while the girl was still looking at them and continued to run, he then pointed to her and the Pokéball. She nodded, Niels didn't think she would get it that easily, and she took a Pokéball of her own out of her bag.

But then she hesitated, and Sander didn't blame her for that, she would give her Pokémon to them. There was a possibility that they would just run off with it. Eventually she decide that she had no choice and threw it, a green reptilian Pokémon came out of it.

"Listen," Niels whispered to it. "I know we are not your trainers, but you have to trust me on this one. You are a Treecko right?"

The Treecko looked at its trainer and then back at the two who were now standing next to him, both battle-ready. It nodded.

"I have an idea, Sander your Mudkip needs to blast any Beedrill away that come to close."

"Got it."

"Treecko, do you know how to use the attack Bullet Seed?" It nodded once again.

The three looked at each other one last time, to know that they are ready. A moment later, three Pokémon appeared out of their Pokéballs, Niels his Torchic and Bagon, and Sander's Mudkip.

"Alright, Treecko use your Bullet Seed on as many Beedrill as you can, and try to keep firing! Torchic, Bagon light the seeds on fire with your Ember attack!" Niels commanded.

"Mudkip, stay ready shoot them out of the air with your Water Gun if they get too close to us." Sander shouted, this attracted the attention of most of the Beedrill and now they headed towards them.

Treecko launched several bullets out of its mouth which Torchic and Bagon immediately lit up with fire, the fiery bullets hit most of the Beedrill, but only a few were knocked out instantly. But after a few moments, Torchic needed to recuperate from the constant use of an attack. And Treecko was getting exhausted as well.

The girl was still running, but turned around to see what was going on when the attacks were launched, she was amazed by the sight of the Fire and Grass attacks working together so they inflicted more damage then either attack alone could. The Beedrills had stopped following her and were now solely concentrated on taking out these Pokémon. But then she tripped over a branch and landed with her back in a bush. Something did not feel right, something was hurting.

"Alright, Torchic use a Scratch attack. Bagon use a Headbutt!" Niels said when he saw that Treecko could no longer produce any bullets, the attack had taken it's toll form the Pokémon and it was now panting heavily.

"Mudkip use your Water Gun on the two Beedrill coming from your right!" Sander commanded as he saw more Beedrill approaching.

Then all of a sudden, the Beedrill left. A few were still lying on the ground, unconscious. Yet the rest left, possibly to get reinforcements.

"We did it?" Sander said with a disbelieving look on his face. _'How did we even do that?'_

"No, we just made them angry." Niels replied. "We need to get out of here, fast. Take a look at the Treecko, I'll go get the girl."

Sander looked at the Treecko, he saw that it was barely able to stand on its feet and so he returned it in its Pokéball. Niels ran towards the girl, who was lying in a bush, and remained still even though the danger was gone, even if it was for just this moment.

"Are you okay?" He asked and he reached out to her with his hand.

She took the hand, but it wasn't a firm grip. He pulled her up and heard her mutter a quick and soft 'Thanks', then she fell backwards again. Niels only barely managed to grab her back with his hand before she would fall into the bushes again.

He felt something warm and liquid flowing down his hand with which he held her back. He pulled her up again and looked at it, it was blood. He then looked at the bush in which she fell, it was no ordinary bush, it had many thorns in it, most of them covered in blood too.

"Is she alright?" Sander shouted while calling back his Mudkip, he hadn't noticed the fact that she was motionless in Niels his arms.

"Sander, get the bandages out of your bag, NOW!" he laid her down on her chest and pulled up her shirt. "Son of a... What the hell is taking you so long?" There were many holes in her back, though not very deep, but she needed to stop losing blood now otherwise she would not make it for much longer.

"You are not going to like this." Sander said. "I think I forgot to take them with me." He was still searching his backpack when he suddenly stopped. Niels looked up too. They could hear a buzzing sound closing in on them. The Beedrills were coming back, and they had company.

Niels picked up the girl, putting one hand beneath her knees and another beneath her back. "You call back my Pokémon and carry my backpack, I'll carry her."

Sander complied and then asked: "Where are we going?"

"Let's just hope that there are still some people at the campsite, if not then we have to head back to Petalburg."

_~=*A few hours later, PetalBurg City Hospital*=~_

Luck wasn't with them, everyone at the campsite had left, which meant they ran straight back to Petalburg City, and neither of them was happy about it. Once they were far enough out of the woods, they applied an improvised bandage using one of Niels's spare shirts. Which miraculously managed to stop the bleeding almost completely.

And now they were in the waiting room of the hospital. The girl got carried to an operation room immediately, some thorns were still inside here body, and all of her wounds had to be closed.

Sander was getting restless, he hated waiting. "You can go if you want. Get a room ready at the Pokémon Center." Niels said to him.

Sander looked at him. "I'm not leaving you here alone in this dull place, maybe we should just play a game or something."

"I'm sorry but I'm not in the mood for it. I just want an 'all clear' from the doctors and then we can go."

Niels stared out a window again, as he had done for the past thirty minutes. Suddenly a door opened and a doctor entered the room.

"She is going to be alright," He said, Niels and Sander both sighed with relief. "she needs a good night's sleep and tomorrow she will be ready to leave, none of the wounds were ever substantial enough to risk her life, I think she just passed out out of sheer emotion and the pain. The blood loss could have been worse, but thanks to you two it was kept to a minimum."

"Where will she be staying, we have some things that belong to her that we want to bring her." Sander asked, he help up the Pokéball containing her Treecko. And then Niels picked up the girls bag which was standing next to him.

"Follow me."

_~=*Late at night, the Pokémon Center*=~_

Sander was watching the news on the T.V.

"_Strange things seem to be happening around the Meteor Falls, reports say that all Pokémon that inhabited the place have left. A couple of researchers went in to investigate but none have been heard from since._

_The Pokémon, namely Solrock, Lunatone, Bagon and Shelgon have been spotted in many areas which are not their natural habitat, sightings of these Pokémon have been around Mauville City, Petalburg City and Slateport City."_

Sander turned off the T.V. "Hey Niels, looks like your Bagon wasn't completely out of place." He said. When he didn't get a reply he turned around and saw Niels already sleeping though moving like he wasn't comfortable. Sander decided it was best he got some sleep too.

Niels was once again dreaming of something that felt too realistic.

_'He was running in the same place again, although this did seem like a different area then the one he was in in the last dream, for one this place wasn't completely destroyed, secondly there were many people and Pokémon laying on the ground, he could also see a few trainers battle, yet almost everyone was a white glow, then something emerged in his mind, 'what if I haven't met these people yet? Is that why they are white glows?'_

_Someone shouted his name behind him, told him to 'wait up', he turned around and saw the girl that he saved earlier run towards him, she had scratches on her face arms and legs, now that he saw that, he felt that he had them too._

_'Why did she come after me?' his dream self thought, 'I told her this was dangerous.' he let her catch up to him, and then they ran off together. Suddenly a piece of the ceiling came down at them, and the girl pushed him away while barely managing to not get hit herself._

"_Guess that makes us even now huh?" She said with a smile. Niels couldn't bring out a word, an explosion happened nearby and everything went black._

Niels jolted up from his sleep again. This time though, he wasn't as shocked as the first time. This time, he didn't die for starters.

He needed some fresh air, after looking at Sander to see if he was asleep, he left the room and went outside.

He arrived at a big open area, he wasn't alone, but Petalburg was never empty in the streets.

Suddenly he heard an all to familiar voice speak to him.

**A/N: CLIFFHANGER!**

**Nah not really a real cliffhanger, but still, can you guess who it is?**

**Anyway, I think this chapter turned out to be good.**

**Just to make everything clear, the girl is Touko from B/W, and her name will be Touko since Hilda is just dumb and I don't like White or Whitlea. I think my description of her was alright though it was hard to write.**

**And I made myself a plot point just to make you all happy about the damn Bagon, I'm sorry if it was just odd to some, I should have thought about it more.**

**Review please.**


	7. A Battle After All!

**A/N: I know this is up quickly after the last chapter, but this was originally going to be in it, thus made writing it very easy. Last chapter would have been too long for my liking, I do want to slowly increase the Word count to possibly 3000 per chapter, but don't count on it actually happening.**

**I want to thank: 'Addie Marie Jones', '3rdbase101' and 'MeguMegu3.0' for reviewing, you are all awesome.**

**This chapter is slightly slower, but I will make up for it in the next one.**

_~=*In the Hospital*=~_

The girl opened her eyes and looked around. Where was she? Last thing she remembered was getting chased by a large amount of Beedrill. She let her eyes adjust to the darkness, she saw her bag hanging at the end of the bed that she was in, and she saw a Pokéball sitting on top of a cabinet. She took a closer look at the other objects in this room and came to realize she was in a hospital. But how?

She tried sitting up but her back hurt. Right, she fell into a bunch of thorns, that would explain why she is here. She reached out with her hand to a button that would call a nurse to her room. A short buzz was heard and then she let go, she had some questions that needed answering.

A few seconds later, a nurse came in. "Ah, You are awake." She said with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay, I guess. Definitely felt better." She replied. "How did I get here?"

The nurse smiled. "Your friends brought you in here, ran all the way back from the Petalburg Woods. I have honestly never seen someone getting carried in the hospital that wasn't by medics." She went to check on some equipment in the corner of the room.

"I wasn't traveling with anyone. Who brought me in here, can you be more specific?" She asked, something flashed in her mind but she couldn't recognize it. Two silhouettes was what she saw, calling out their Pokémon.

The nurse looked at her with a surprised look on her face. "You mean you didn't know the two boys who brought you in? I guess there are some good people in this world after all. One of the two didn't leave your side until you were in the operation room, so I assumed you knew each other." She looked outside for a moment. "Speaking of the devil, the one I mean is right there." And the nurse pointed outside to an open area on the ground.

The girl instantly jumped out of her bed to see him, no matter how much her back hurt. When she saw him walking away from the Pokémon Center she recognized him, he had helped her get up out of that thorn bush. She saw him walking over to a fence and watching him lean on it, when he suddenly turned his head to his right.

_~=*With Niels, Petalburg Central Plaza, same time*=~_

"You are quite something, you know that?" A familiar voice spoke to him from the right.

Niels looked to his right only to see a cloaked figure standing there, but he already knew who it was. "If you are here for that bloody window of yours then you should check your mailbox."

"That is one of the reasons that I am here." Norman said. "First you break my window, but make up for it by giving me a check for quite a large sum of money, then you want to help Team Rocket stealing a boy's Pikachu so you get money from them, and then after you left you come running back into the city with an unconscious girl in your hands, taking her to the hospital."

Niels looked at him, "So you have been spying on us?" he said. "I thought Gym Leaders had more honor then that, not to mention better things to do. But what is your point, for one I never even accepted the job."

Norman took a Pokéball in his hand. "I want a one versus one battle with you. If I win you tell me how you got so much money, what your intentions are with that girl and you will not steal the boy's Pikachu."

Niels was surprised, of all things, he hadn't thought that this was what Norman was here for. What did he mean by 'intentions' anyway. "The money is a private matter, you will not get any details on that, so some research in old newspapers or something. Anyway, what's in it for me?

Norman thought for a few seconds before answering. "I will not bother you anymore, and I will give you the chance for a real Gym Battle."

This was going to be pointless for Norman to begin with, he wasn't going to steal the Pikachu anyway, and why would Norman even think he was going to use the girl, _'Just who the hell does that guy think I am?'_. But he on the other hand would get the chance for a real Gym Battle. "That sounds like a deal, our battle will be here I presume?."

Norman stood up and walked to one side of the imaginary field, Niels went to the other side.

"Go, Pokéball!"

A white, sloth-like Pokémon came out of the ball.

Niels took out his Pokédex to examine it: Vigoroth, the Wild Monkey Pokémon. Vigoroth is only comfortable going berserk. Will destroy anything in its path by spinning both arms, and goes more berserk when done.

_'That sounds a lot like someone I used to know.' _Niels thought to himself. What Pokémon would he use, he was deciding between two Pokémon but could not make his choice. Eventually he just stuck to his first Pokémon. "Go, Torchic!"

Norman seemed to be taken aback from the Pokémon he was about to fight, which gave Niels an opening. "Alright, let's start this off with an Ember attack!"

Norman finally regained his senses in time to realize they were battling. "Vigoroth, dive to the right! Then attack it with your Fury Swipes!" Vigoroth got hit by a few of the flames but it barely noticed them and ran towards the unsuspecting Torchic.

It started slashing its claws at Torchic, but Niels had a plan. "Torchic, Focus Energy into Peck!" Torchic tried focusing its energy until it released a powerful Peck attack. This resulted in the Vigoroth being knocked back, and its attack stopped.

Torchic was still panting from the beating it had received earlier. "Now Vigoroth, use your Faint Attack!" Norman commanded.

While Torchic was not looking for a second, the Vigoroth disappeared, only to reappear behind him and attacking Torchic with another one of its slashes.

"Now finish it off with a Focus Punch." Norman said.

Suddenly Torchic glowed red, its special ability was activating. "What is-" Niels was cut off by the Pokédex in his pocket before he could finish his sentence. "Blaze, When a Pokémon with Blaze activated uses a Fire-type move, the power will increase by 1.5 times."

Niels smirked, "Now use another Ember attack!" Torchic launched several more flames towards the Vigoroth. Vigoroth in turn could not move because it was focusing on delivering the final blow, thus it took the full hit.

Vigoroth was launched backwards, this time it was not shaking the attack off so easily. But the effect on Torchic wore off already. _'Guess one attack with a power boost has to do it.'_

"Seeing a Torchic use that ability at such a young age is quite impressive. But it also means it has come down to the last of its strength, Now Vigoroth, end this once again with a Focus Punch." Norman said.

Vigoroth started building up its focus again. "Torchic get ready to dodge it at my command, then hit it with a Scratch attack." Vigoroth started moving forward, its right hand glowing white. "NOW!" Niels yelled. Torchic tried diving out of the way, but to no avail. It got struck by the attack, knocking it out.

Niels took the Pokéball in his hand and called back his Torchic. "You did good buddy." He then proceeded to look back at Norman. "Like I said, the money and where it came from is easily findable in newspapers. I have no plans for the girl, I don't even get why you would think that. And I was never going to steal the kid's Pikachu. I hope you stop looking at the world like everyone is evil or something." And he turned around back to the Pokémon Center to try and get back to sleep again.

He left Norman behind who was puzzled by what Niels had said to him.

_~=*Petalburg Hospital*=~_

"That was impressive. I mean he lost and all, but still." She said to herself, she hadn't noticed the nurse leave her room, who thought that she would be fine for now.

_~=*Next morning, Petalburg Hospital Lobby*=~_

"Are you serious?" Sander asked to someone over the phone. "Well then how long do you think we have before we should absolutely leave?"

Sander was getting a bit frustrated, he knew Niels would not like this either. He looked at the entrance and saw him coming inside, Sander waved at him to show where he was.

"Okay, thanks goodbye." Sander said before hanging up the phone.

"Who was that?" Niels asked him.

"My dad, we need to go within the next thirty minutes. Mom is coming this way."

"You told me you had this all sorted out! That she let you go on your Pokémon journey."

"Well, I lied."

Niels just stared at him. "How about you just hide, it is not like your mother will walk into every building in Petalburg City."

"Right, but where should I go?"

Niels kicked him and gave him a look which said enough, he'd have to find a place himself.

Sander ran off, Niels quickly shouted at him: "West gate, one hour!" He kept watching as Sander ran away.

He had brought some flowers along for the girl, he didn't know if she would like them, it was more of a 'get well soon' card, but he thought those things were stupid.

He checked something on his phone while he was leaning against the wall, when he decided it was time he would go up. Quite a shame Sander wouldn't come along, he was sure the girl would want to see both of them.

He got up from against the wall but was pushed back immediately by two hands that were placed on his shoulder, his reflexes instantly kicked in as he grabbed the upper arms of whoever was pushing him and turning the person around against the wall.

He looked up to see who it was, when he saw that he let go without a second thought, it was the girl he brought here. "I-I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." He looked at the girl in front of him. But although she was obviously shocked with what had just happened, she put a smile on her face.

"I guess I shouldn't startle you like that huh?" She said.

He smiled too now, she wasn't going to make a big deal out of it. "No, my reflexes take over. So, how is your back?"

"It hurts, but I can manage." She replied. "Thanks, for saving me. Without you, I probably wouldn't be standing here right now." She added.

"So what is your name?" Niels wanted to change the subject.

"My name is Touko, and you?"

"Niels, my friend who helped saving you is Sander, but he isn't here at the moment."

She decided it was better to ask now then to wait until later. "Were you heading for Rustboro?" He looked at her eyes.

"Yes, I'm assuming you did the same then? Until the Beedrill came obviously."

"Yeah, so... um... I was wondering if I could travel along with the two of you then?" The way she looked at him was almost begging, Niels understood she didn't want to go through the Woods alone again, but something prevented him from saying an immediate 'yes'. The dreams.

But them he looked at her blue eyes and beautiful smile, and he realized he couldn't say no. "Fine by me, when were you planning on leaving?"

"Well, today, unless you have other things to do first. I can wait." Touko answered.

He heard the door of the hospital slide open, he looked at it and saw in shock that it was Sander's mom, and she looked straight at him. Slowly she marched towards him. "Alright, sounds fine to me, west gate fifty-five minutes. Gotta run." He said in a fast pace and he ran off, before coming back to her to point at the flowers. "Those are for you." And he winked and ran off once again.

Touko blushed but at the same time looked at him with a weird look on her face, but then she saw that someone was following him. _'If he can defeat many Beedrill then one adult woman won't be a problem.' _She smiled to herself and then left for the western gate.

_~=*West Petalburg Exit, Eighty minutes later*=~_

He was finally there, he had shaken off his mother. Of course it was a stupid idea to hide in the Pokémon Center.

"Took you long enough Slowpoke." He must have been running too fast, that wasn't Niels his voice.

He looked up and saw the girl from the Woods sit there she was smiling at him and reading a book. "Wha... What are you... doing here." He said while he was gasping for air. He hadn't run this fast in a long time.

"She is joining us through the Woods." A voice from behind Sander said, he also felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Niels standing next to him but he was looking to the girl. "I win the bet. Let me give you a hint, never bet on him being somewhere on time."

She giggled.

"You know, you could have at least told me this before I got here." Sander said. This was going to be a long day.

**A/N: I think that turned out to be OK, slower then I wanted to, but that gets set straight in the next chapter.**

**Touko joins, but for how long? Only I know. :)**

**I also want to note that 'dream sequences' are not events that are set in stone. Think of it like this, if they would have turned left it won't happen, but when they turn right it will.**

**Don't expect the next one to be up for at least three days! :(**

**Review please.**


	8. Enter Team Magma!

**A/N: Alright, will include two OC's in this chapter. Here is hoping for using them right.**

**As always the reviewers : 'Burning Moon of the Sky', 'Yuki-Judai123', 'Addie Marie Jones', 'Inhuman X' and 'tac1060' are all awesome, keep reviewing.**

**I seem to be addicted to reviews, is that bad? I check my e-mails every single hour! Unless I'm asleep ;)**

**Some people still can't grasp the fact that you NEED to include a review with your OC, otherwise I won't look at it -.-**

**Anyway, on with the chapter!**

The three had almost made it to the northern exit of the Petalburg Woods.

"Now that wasn't so hard now was it?" Niels asked the other two when he noticed the exit.

"Just keep it down, they may still ambush us!" Sander said back, and he looked around him ready to run if he had to.

The sun was slowly setting and they didn't want to stay and camp here in the middle of the night.

"Guys, let's just get out of here before its too late." Touko said. She and Sander didn't get along very well, but for once he agreed with her.

They walked on closing in on the exit with every step. "Speaking of late, where are we going to sleep? They probably don't have a Pokémon Center around here." Sander asked.

Niels and Touko were about to face-palm because they had discussed this multiple times already when they heard voices near the edge of the woods.

All three of them looked at each other and then snuck up on the people to listen in on their conversation. They could not see who they were unless they would show themselves, which for now didn't seem like a good idea.

"This is nonsense!" And elderly voice said, obviously agitated. "You do know that threatening people with violence is absolutely useless."

"Now, now Professor, we only want your help in some urgent matters for us." Somebody else said.

"Yes, and if you are going to work against us then we have no choice but to attack you. Go, Houndoom." A third voice stated.

This was going to hell real fast, whoever this person was, he's in trouble. But what could they do? Having another incident like with Botch and Cassidy was not going to help them at all.

"Ah, a Houndoom. I have heard about this Pokémon." The older man said, clearly giving no attention to the fact he was being threatened just seconds ago.

_'Wow, he's got nerve' _Touko thought to herself before focusing her attention back to Niels and Sander. Both were at a loss of what to do. "Guys," She whispered. "Shouldn't we do something?.

"That's it! Don't ignore us like we are not here!" One of the two others shouted.

Apparently the man had counted on them doing so. "Raising your voice will not help you with your cause." This startled the two, neither of them thought that they were going to have to use force to take the professor with them.

Touko decided to step up, and before Niels and Sander could stop her she appeared behind the older man. "Is there a problem here?" She was afraid, but the moment the other two boys stepped out of the woods it subsided.

Niels recognized the three that they were now facing. The first was a well known Pokémon Professor from the Sinnoh region called Rowan. He was in Hoenn to study Pokémon before the official opening of the Sinnoh region so that a new Pokédex with data could be made, within it all known Pokémon from at that moment on four regions would be available to everyone. He was also well known for researching Pokémon evolution.

The other two were bad news indeed, they were part of the notorious Team Magma, an organization set to expand the land and let the seas shrink.

"No, I don't see a problem here." Rowan said. "These clowns have nothing more to say."

Sander noticed that one of the Magma members was speaking to someone on a communication device.

"But you are young trainers, would you mind showing this lot that not everything is about pure violence?" Rowan asked.

"With pleasure." The trio said at exactly the same time. And before the two members from team Magma knew it, all Hoenn starters arrived before them. On the other hand, they didn't care, reinforcements were coming, it was all about stalling time now.

But even that was unnecessary, as an orange beam suddenly impacted the ground beneath them, knocking back the trio. Their Pokémon stood up again, wondering where it came from. All the while, the Magma grunts just smiled, and Rowan looked around in the sky.

"You two are worthless." A cold female voice said. "I will report this to the boss as soon as we get back." She slowly got into view, she had long dull red hair, cold blue eyes and was rather short. She was also dressed in a Team Magma attire.

"Y-yes, Ma-am!" Both of them were now thinking to themselves that calling for help was not the smartest idea.

She turned to face the three who were now standing up again. Before they could say anything however they were lifted up in the air by some sort of Psychic attack. Someone had gone up behind them and use a Psychic Pokémon that neither of them recognized to hold them in their place and lift them up.

"I think you need to learn a lesson. You don't mess with Luxandra from Team Magma." The female person now called Luxandra said. Now that Niels saw her a little better and heard her voice again, there was no way she was an adult, she was hardly older than him.

It took a few seconds but then they saw another orange beam racing towards them. It went fast, Touko shrieked, Sander closed his eyes, and Niels concentrated. And right before impact they fell down onto the ground.

Touko and Sander looked up, they saw a green creature flying towards Luxandra, whatever it was, it was what had fired those beams, and it looked ready to fight.

The girl however was not interested in anything but Niels right now. She was staring at him, he had done something and she wanted to know what.

Sander saw this and looked at Niels, he could see he was fighting something in himself, and he knew what it was. "Alright Touko, we are on our own here."

"But what..." She too had seen Niels, and was now concerned for his health, to her it looked that he got hit by that beam, and that that was what was causing him this pain. Was it pain though? Now that she looked better she couldn't see any impact marks. She decided to shake it off and focus on Team Magma.

"Looks like you still don't want to run away. Flygon use DragonBreath on their pathetic little Pokémon, then start a fire at the Flower Shop, that way nobody is going to help these losers."

"Flyyy." The Pokémon now known as Flygon said while it charged its DragonBreath but before he got the chance to fire the attack, something quick and green shot out of the woods and used an attack to severely damage the Flygon.

After the Pokémon got out of the woods a trainer arrived on the scene. "Hey isn't that the guy with the Grovyle we saw in Oldale?" Sander asked both confused and happy at the same time, now it was even again.

"If you saw me beating a Shroomish there, then you are right. However I am not a guy, I am a girl." And she turned around to reveal that she was indeed a girl, though it was very hard to tell. She wore black jeans, a green button-up shirt, a gray jacket and trainers. She was also very flat chested and had gold-brown hair that was cut short and looked messy.

Sander shrugged, "Obviously not my fault that I thought you were. Mudkip use your Water Gun!"

"Treecko use a Quick Attack followed by an Absorb!" Touko commanded

"Grovyle use your Leaf Blade!" The mysterious girl shouted.

All attacks hit the Flygon and it was knocked out. Luxandra could not believe her eyes, her Flygon got knocked out easily. The boss would not like this. "What are you three still standing around for, use your Pokémon already!"

"R-right. Go Golbat!" A big purple bat appeared out of the thrown Pokéball that belonged to one of the Magma grunts. The Houndoom belonging to the other Magma grunt was ready to attack as well. And they completely forgot about the Psychic Pokémon behind them that had been watching carefully the entire time.

Everyone looked at each other before the attacks got called out. "Torchic, Bagon use Ember. Zigzagoon use a Headbutt." Niels was the first to call in an attack, at some point he must have stood up again. This also marked the first time Sander saw the Zigzagoon.

"Grovyle use a Grass Knot on that Psychic Pokémon!"

"Treecko use another absorb!"

"Mudkip spray that dog back into the abyss with your Water Gun!"

"The abyss, really?" Niels asked before concentrating on the battle again.

"Yeah, it looks like a dog from the underworld, so..." He chuckled.

As their opponents started calling out attacks none of them had noticed that Rowan had left and gone to the Flower Shop not far from here. He knew from the start that as much as those kids were eager to help, they wouldn't last long against three strong Pokémon. He already managed to get a handful of people with him, now he just hoped he wasn't too late.

All of a sudden a massive amount of Pokémon appeared. The members of Team Magma knew that they had no chance against this force. The three grunts left the place immediately, Luxandra stood there for a few more seconds. "This isn't over." And then she also left.

"Helluva fight." Niels said. They made it out unharmed, their Pokémon were injured but nothing was serious, and they were fine too, albeit in the nick of time.

He looked at Touko for a moment but she still looked at him with a look on her face as if she wasn't sure he was fine.

The unknown girl stepped to Professor Rowan. "Thanks," she said. "I don't think we would have been able to beat them if you had not shown up with all of these people."

"It was the least I could do." He replied with a smile on his face. "How about I get you all the best tents at the Flower Shop so you will be able to sleep well through the night?"

Sander almost jumped up in happiness. "YES, no sleeping outside tonight!"

_~=*Flower Shop Camping Area, four hours later*=~_

Professor Rowan had left, he had business to attend to in Rustboro City, besides he wanted to let the police know of Team Magma as soon as he could.

The girl with the Grovyle was called Firefly, but that was about all they got out of her. And the fact that she wanted to become a Pokémon Ranger when she's older.

And now the four of them were sitting around a campfire. Firefly was sitting alone on the opposite side of them.

Niels noticed Touko scratching her back. "Something wrong?" He asked.

"I think my bandages got loose, and now it itches a lot."

"Do you want me to replace them?" Niels expected that she would have asked that herself, perhaps she was too proud to ask for help. Then again, she did ask to come with them to 'escort' her to Rustboro, even though she never specifically said that.

"Sure." She grabbed something from her bag and threw it towards him. She then turned her back towards him while he pulled her shirt and jacket up so he could unwrap the current bandages.

"Relax. I can feel you are nervous." He felt a fast heartbeat every time his fingers even barely touched her skin. _'You have no idea. How can he even feel that?' _She thought.

Once he was done with removing them, Sander took a peek around Niels. "Those are some nice holes you got there."

Niels had trouble bursting out laughing, even Firefly had to admit she had problems with it too. Before he knew it Touko stood up. He heard a quick: "What did I..." Before she sat down in front of him again.

Niels turned around and saw his friend laying on the ground, unconscious. "You know, it's not his fault. He never thinks before he speaks."

"I know, but it makes me feel better." She could feel his hands going off of her body. "Done?"

"Yeah, I think I'm going to bed now, after I drag him into his tent." Pointing at Sander.

"Goodnight."

"Night."

Touko took one last look at Firefly, who was just sitting there, not saying a single word. "Do you even have emotion?"

She just shrugged and turned around into her own tent.

**A/N: I think that turned out to be okay.**

**Well that's two OC's and we will see both of them at some point again in the story.**

**I hope the ones who submitted it are happy with how it turned out. If not then let me know!**

**Anyways, REVIEW please!**


	9. Pokémon Bullies!

**A/N: Alright the next chapter.**

**I want to thank (Damn what a long list this time ;D): 'That's the way I roll', 'Joker'sTwinBro-FlameOfRecca's', 'Addie Marie Jones', 'A Sea of Sound', 'MeguMegu3.0', '3rdbase101', 'tac1060' for reviewing the last chapter or earlier chapters, you are awesome.**

**And thanking: 'A Sea of Sound' and 'Burning Moon of the Sky' for notifying me that I did a good job on their OC.**

**Enjoy!**

Everyone was sleeping in their tents and have good dreams, well one of them didn't. Niels was once again dreaming these dreams that seemed way to real.

_'"I will never forget this minute, this second! I will never forget this moment!" He heard his dream-self say. 'Not again.' He thought to himself as he tried to make sense of what was going on this time._

_He felt tears flowing down his face, and he could barely see a thing, it was just all a red blurry mess. Something was racing through his body he could feel it, he had not felt this in a long time. He slowly rose to his feet, it felt like his head was on fire and his arm was actually covered in a red flame. 'Oh no.' He knew what this was, and it wasn't good. Then again, why would he care, it's just a dream._

_Suddenly he heard someone yell: "We have to get out of here! NOW!" Anger was what he felt, anger at everything, maybe it was even just pure hate. "But what about-" Someone else said. "Leave him if you value your life!" In the meantime he was standing up again and was scanning the room, there were around eight people in it. Pretty much all of them looked at him and something that was laying behind him. None of them were leaving the room. This was exactly what he needed._

_Seeing as no one left the room the person who was yelling that they had to leave now walked towards him. "Do you remember who you are? Who are you? Tell me!" He felt his mouth turn into a smirk. "I am the instrument of your death." And without warning, the fist of his right arm raced forward and struck the chest of the person in front of him. Instantly crushing it._

Niels opened his eyes again, he felt that he was sweating._ 'These dreams are getting ridiculous.' _He thought to himself. He suddenly realized that he was not alone. Sander was standing in the opening of his tent. "We need to talk." He said.

Niels got up and walked outside following Sander to a more secluded area of the campsite. Once they got there Sander was thinking on how to start this.

"I know you used it." He said.

Niels looked at him he didn't expect Sander to start talking about it. "Yes, it was the only choice I had unless you wanted to get hit by that orange beam." Niels replied, he already knew Sander was stating the events of last night.

"You know that it is dangerous."

"Oh, you think I don't know that!" Niels said back, it exited his mouth with a lot more force then he wanted to.

Sander noticed this but decided not to raise his own voice. "I also heard voices from your tent just now. 'I am the instrument of your death.' You dreamed about it too didn't you?"

Niels just looked away and didn't answer. "I can control it if it is just small amounts. I need to vent it out of my body, it's been cropping up inside of me for four years." He just stated.

"And we all know you are lying here, you can't control it. And you know the promise we made to each other." Sander turned around and started walking back. "I think you should tell her. She needs to know the risks. Some food for thought."

"I know you are trying to help me here, but I am not telling anyone unless they ask me. Out of all the people I told, how many didn't run away after a week? A grand number of three people, and that includes you." Sander looked down to the ground, and then walked further. It wasn't up to him here.

_~=*Ninety minutes later, on the road*=~_

Apparently Firefly had left sometime when they were sleeping, they didn't know where she headed and quite frankly didn't really care, she was after all quite strange.

Touko thought that things were unusually quiet, she felt tension in the air between Niels and Sander, something happened between the two. She tried coming up with things to talk about, but none of them seemed viable options.

She was about to give up until Niels asked something. "So Touko, why are you heading to Rustboro anyway?" A flock of bird Pokémon flew over them, which distracted her for a moment.

"I live there, I just went over to Littleroot to pick up my starter Pokémon and them head straight back to discuss with my parents on what I could become. You know between trainer, coordinator and all those things."

Niels looked at her. "You don't know it yet?" He asked with confusion in his voice.

"Nah, I never really thought about it. I think I know what I want to do, but I'll keep it a secret for now." She said with a wink.

Women, if there was one thing he would never understand, then that would be it. Niels sighed.

Sander was in deep thought, it was obvious that Niels was not going to spill to her. There were two reasons why he wanted her to know, one was to warn her, but the other was the possibility that she would leave. By now it was obvious to him, he didn't like her one bit, not necessarily hate her just dislike her.

"Niels, what was going on with you last night? After the Psychic attack stopped." He asked, hoping that Touko would follow him in that. And he was right.

"Yeah, what was that? As far as I could tell you were in a lot of pain."

He looked at Sander, he had a smirk on his face. He wasn't seriously trying to make him angry was he? Next time they were alone, he needed to get some answers out of him. "I got hit by that beam. To tell you something, it hurt. But I have endured far worse once."

"Oh, tell me." Touko said with interest, thinking what he had possibly gone through.

Crap, this was not what he expected. He looked around and saw a group of people standing in a circle around something.

Touko noticed them too, "What is going on over there?"

_'Saved at the very last moment.' _Niels thought, he could see that Sander was disappointed. When he noticed Touko treading towards the group he grabbed Sander by his arms. "Now listed to me very carefully, you know what I am capable of. And you are not helping it one bit."

Sander had a shocked expression in his eyes. He wasn't joking, the grip actually felt strong, though it was nothing compared to what he could do. He nodded and muttered a quick "I'm sorry."

Niels released him. "Act like you used to do, what has gotten into you anyway?" Niels turned around and walked towards the group as well.

Sander followed him, maybe he should set his plan aside for the moment.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" they heard Touko scream.

The group of people just laughed at her. "Get lost kiddo, this is none of your business." They noticed the two boys running up to her. "So you got reinforcements?" The group laughed again. The person who was talking had black hair and was wearing a complete black leather outfit, it looked quite ridiculous.

She didn't care about these people, there was a Pokémon in the middle of the group being beaten up. Her expression went from sad to downright horrified.

"Hey, what are you doing to that Pokémon?" Sander said.

"Let me give you the short version. It is weak! Either you slam the strength out of it, or it doesn't deserve to live."

"Whose Pokémon is that?" Niels asked, rage was building up inside of him.

"Mine. And in case you are wondering my name is Rick." The person they were talking to the entire time said with a smirk. "And I don't need to hear your crap abo-" Niels grabbed him violently by his throat and shut it tight and pushed him on the ground.

"So should I just slam the strength out of you then? Or do you not deserve to live?" His eyes had gone from a bright blue to a dark red color.

Touko's scream brought him back to reality. "Don't! You don't have to..." She stopped when she saw him release Rick. She walked up to Niels grabbed him by his arm and pulled him away.

Everyone around them were either scared to death, or confused.

"We can settle this in a peaceful manner okay?" Niels nodded but it didn't seem like it went inside his head. His eyes had returned to normal and suddenly it sunk into him that he just made a mistake. "Let's battle! A one on one, if we win then that Pokémon goes with us."

"Hmpf, fine by me, like you can win from my strong Pokémon." Rick, who was probably the 'leader' of this group, said. Though he was still shaking from what happened just seconds earlier.

"Treecko, I choose you!" Touko said.

"A measly Treecko, heh, this is going to be easier then I thought. Go Nuzleaf!" Rick said. "So do you have a name beautiful? Before I show you my power?" The group around him was slowly recovering and grinned.

This made her angry, _'How dare he...'_ She pointed her finger forwards. "Treecko, start off with a Bullet Seed attack!" Treecko shot multiple seeds towards the Nuzleaf.

Sander's mouth fell open when Nuzleaf didn't get ordered to dodge or anything like that, it just took all the seeds in, dealing considerable damage to the Pokémon.

"Done already? Nuzleaf use your Razor Leaf!" Rick ordered. "Nuzzzz!" A barrage of leaves were launched from the Pokémon

"Treecko dodge and use Pursuit!" Suddenly Treecko ran to its opponent with tremendous speed, before hitting it.

"Use your Frustration!" Rick laughed while he yelled that.

"Frustration?" Niels took out his Pokédex. "Frustration, a full-power attack that grows more powerful the less the user likes its Trainer."

The sheer force of the attack was known the moment Nuzleaf started hitting Treecko at every possible moment.

"Treecko, use your Quick Attack to get out!" Touko commanded. Within moments it was safely away, for now. "Now use Absorb to regain your strength!" Two red beams were fired from Treecko's paws which drained the opponent's power while Treecko regained its own.

As reckless as he was, he wasn't dumb. "Use Nature Power!" Rick shouted.

Nuzleaf opened it's mouth upwards and shot multiple white objects out of it. They barraged down towards Treecko.

"Evade them!" Touko yelled. However every time one of the objects impacted on the ground it exploded, leaving tiny craters in its place. Rick was laughing. "Your little Pokémon wont have survived that." To his surprise he was wrong.

When the smoke cleared up Treecko was panting heavily, but standing up and ready to continue. On the other hand Nuzleaf by not dodging any attacks was in a worse condition, but it knew that its trainer would not accept a loss.

"Now finish it off with a Quick Attack!" Touko commanded.

"Use a pound attack when it gets close!" Rick simply said.

Both Pokémon made contact with each other, creating a cloud of dust around them so nobody saw what the outcome was. When it finally settled Nuzleaf was knocked out while Treecko was barely able to stand up.

Touko smiled and returned her exhausted Pokémon. "You did great."

It was obvious that Rick was angry. But he just returned his Pokémon and left. The group looked confused before following him, leaving the injured Pokémon where it was.

When they walked towards it they saw it was a bird Pokémon with dark blue feathers with patches of red on their chest and forehead. Niels who still had his Pokédex out from earlier scanned it. "Taillow, the TinySwallow Pokémon. Although it is small, it is very courageous. It will take on a larger Skarmory on an equal footing. However, its will weakens if it becomes hungry. "

"A Taillow, what should we do with it?" Touko asked.

"Just capture it for the moment, we are not far away from Rustboro, and I am no medical expert. Once it is inside a Pokéball its condition won't get worse." Niels replied.

"I'll do it!" Sander threw his Pokéball towards the Taillow but Niels caught the ball in his hand before it hit. "What did you do that for?" He asked confused and a little angry at the same time.

"Touko saved it, so she should do it."

Sander reluctantly agreed to that, but it did seem fair. Touko took out one of her own Pokéballs and threw it towards the Taillow, it snap shut without even moving, which meant it really was in a poor condition.

"Shall we head on to Rustboro then?" Niels asked.

And they started walking in the direction of skyscrapers and their first Gym Battle.

**A/N: I think this chapter turned out OK.**

**Anyway, before you ask Rick probably won't make another appearance in the story. He is just a one time character that I had to put in. (But one never knows.)**

**Oh and the first sentence that is said (in the dream), what anime is it from? Maybe there will be a reward regarding your OC, not making any promises of course I need to think about it first. **

**I also wanted to ask something. If you have sent in an OC and have ideas for a Love Interest for your OC, be it someone from the anime, games or my story then feel free to send them to me. As romance will eventually happen in the story. And you don't have to do so if you don't want to, its optional!**

**Next chapter will be a longer one, many things will happen including a Gymbattle or two. And Rowan will make another appearance!**

**Review please! :D**


	10. Snowy Summer!

**A/N: Alright finally got around to doing another chapter and here it is.**

**Thanking: 'Pokemaster99', 'Burning Moon of the Sky', 'MeguMegu3.0', 'Addie Marie Jones', 'Wildstar of Windclan', 'tac1060' and '3rdbase101' for reviewing the last chapter or earlier chapters ;)**

**Anyway let's get on with the show! **

It was midday when our three companions slowly closed in on Rustboro City.

Touko had been thinking the entire time since the encounter with Rick. She wanted to know what was going on with Niels but how could she ask him that. "Hey Niels, can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked. "Alone." She added while she looked at Sander.

Sander looked at Niels and he looked back. Sander had a smirk on his face that Niels didn't like. "Fine by me." Niels said. Sander walked on for a bit and sat on a bench in the distance, keeping an eye on the pair and making sure nobody would come close. Meanwhile Niels and Touko sat down on a different bench.

Niels looked around carefully to see if no-one was there. "Alright, what do you want to talk about?" He asked even though he knew the answer.

"Erm..." She hesitated for a moment before she decided to just get it over with. "What was going on with you when you grabbed Rick by his throat? And after we fell down from that Psychic attack? I am not stupid, I noticed you were not entirely yourself during those moments."

Niels thought about this for a few seconds. How could he explain it the best without scaring her off instantly. "I have something inside my body, which every time I get angry makes me go into some sort of rage mode in which I have no control over what happens, but I can feel I am angry at everyone possibly even hating everyone. To say it simple, I could kill everybody around me, and not know it would have even happened. It negates Psychic attacks of any kind when I use it, and I can feel ones emotional state with a simple touch at all times."

Niels had expected Touko to leave by this point, but was surprised to find she was looking at him and even began asking more questions. "When you pushed him down on the ground, how did you do that so easily?"

"I wouldn't say I gain superpowers or anything, but I get incredibly strong when I go into this rage mode. I think the anger feeds it." He answered. "I haven't been that far in in four years, I don't plan on letting it happen again."

Touko looked at him curiously. "How would I know you are that far in?"

"I assume you saw my eyes go to a dark red color?" She nodded. "When I also get red flames around my arms and red electrical currents running through my hair, then you should run and not look back."

"Would you have killed Rick had I not stepped in?" She was getting nervous but didn't want to show it.

Niels closed his eyes. "I can't answer that."

"Because you don't want to?"

"Because I don't know the answer." He retorted back a little too loud for his liking.

She was trying not to raise her own voice. "Why do you not know?"

He still had his eyes closed. "Something will prevent me from ever killing someone."

"Which is?" Touko asked now obviously confused.

"Sander will shoot me before I have the chance. That is the promise we made to each other."_ 'Why can't she just stop asking questions? This isn't exactly fun.'_ He thought, amongst others.

He could hear her stand up. Before he knew it she placed her hand on his and pulled him up. "Come." Was the one word she said.

He was confused. "You aren't running away?"

She smiled. "Now why would I do that? We're friends right? And they stick together."

They started walking towards Sander who smiled as usual but wasn't very happy according to his eyes.

"Thanks." Niels said before they got close to him.

"For what?" Touko asked wondering which of the things he meant.

"For not asking if I killed someone." He replied.

Sander now started running towards them. "Is it just me or is it suddenly cold here?" He asked while he looked in the air.

Now that he mentioned it both Touko and Niels felt that it was actually becoming very cold very quick.

"Is that snow?" Touko asked while she crouched and looked at something on the ground.

"Don't be ridiculous it's the middle of the summer, besides snow in Hoenn is rare enough as it is." Sander said. However he was quickly proven wrong when it started snowing a lot. This was no ordinary snow, it was becoming a blizzard.

"I think we should head to Rustboro, now!" Niels yelled as his vision was almost nothing already, he could only see two black spots in the middle of all this snow.

_~=*Rustboro City Pokémon Center, twenty minutes later*=~_

It was crowded in the Pokémon Center, everyone had sought to seek shelter inside and many people were already standing ready by the door with blankets in case anyone was still coming in.

A few people looked up when the door opened and two boys and a girl came running in. Immediately blankets were wrapped around them, and people asked questions on how they were feeling.

"How the hell do you think I'm feeling? I'm cold you moron!" Niels shouted at the person who was standing next to him who instantly took a step back.

"A blizzard in the summer, next you'll be saying there is going to be a heatwave in the winter" Touko said as she removed the blankets from her torso and wrapped them around her legs.

After a few minutes however the blizzard had stopped as sudden as it had started.

Everyone inside looked confused at the door, finally somebody went outside to see if everything had returned to normal once again. When he came back he said that it was warm outside, just like it was earlier today.

"_We now have live reports from Rustboro City where not so long ago a blizzard suddenly appeared, now officials are investigating what caused this blizzard. However the general public thinks that this is caused by activity near the Meteor Falls which is located not far from the location. We will keep you updated once we learn more. In other news the daughter of the richest family in Rustboro City has reportedly gone mi-" _A reporter on the television in the lobby said before Touko switched channels.

"_Good afternoon Hoenn, this is Terry Graham from 'Hoenn Today' bringing you live footage from Fallarbor Town where just seconds ago a huge blizzard started. We also learned that earlier today a blizzard appeared over Rustboro City, we don't know if the two are connected. It is strange however that both are located so close to the Meteor Falls, a place where odd things have been happening over the past week."_

Sander looked at Niels. "Let's just get that Gymbadge and then get the hell out of here."

"I agree, no need to stay here and face another blizzard if we can help it." He replied and got up from his chair.

Sander and Touko did the same. Sander couldn't help but notice that Touko was slightly uncomfortable about something, when Niels noticed this too and Touko saw that both of them were looking at her she simply said: "It's nothing, okay?"

Both the boys looked at each other and shrugged.

_~=*Rustboro City Gym, a few moments later*=~_

"This place just looks like a rock." Sander said.

"Yeah, at least the Petalburg City Gym looked decent, this is just..." Niels sighed. But a Gym is a Gym.

The three walked forward and rang the doorbell. Apparently this place was slightly more modern then the Petalburg Gym, but only on the outside. It was completely possible that the inside looked like a cave.

A young woman with black hair and wearing a pink and blue school outfit opened the door. She looked at the pair of boys and then saw a girl slowly retreating backwards. "YOU!" She said as she walked towards Touko. "You skip school for two weeks and now you finally decide to show up? No note, not even a phone call saying that you are sick. I'll let your parents know about this, and you are sure to get detention. If only it were Monday already."

Touko held her hands in front of her. "No, you got it wrong, I quit school." She said while she gave a nervous smile.

She should not have said that. "You what!" She started shake Touko by her shoulders. "Do you know that education is the most important thing there is?"

This was getting out of hand, Niels decided to step in. He pulled the two away from each other. "Let's just calm down. Education is not that important unless you want to run a business, it isn't necessary if you want to be a trainer, coordinator and all of that."

Touko sighed in relief and the woman seemed to calm down even though she still had a firm look on Touko.

"We," He pointed to Sander and himself. "are here to challenge the Gym Leader for a battle. Do you know where he or she might be?"

The woman started laughing. "I am the Gym Leader. Name's Roxanne." She looked back at Touko. "You are not here for a battle I hope?" Touko cringed as an unpleasant memory faded into her mind.

"So will you battle us?" Sander asked.

Roxanne looked at her watch. "I guess I have some time even though I don't see how you could win without proper education since I was the best student of my year before I became teacher and Gym Leader. Follow me." She turned around and walked inside the building.

Once they got inside the building they saw that it wasn't exactly a cave, it was a stadium with enough room for hundreds of people. In the middle was a rock filled field.

Touko went on to sit down at the side of the field on the front row. And a referee walked up to the three of them. "I only have time for one battle but I think we can make this a double battle. That way it won't take too long and both of you are able to fight." Roxanne said.

_'He better not screw this up.' _Niels thought. "Fine by me. You?"

"I can live with it."

The referee walked back as he heard enough. "This will be a double battle with no substitutions allowed. The battle will be between Roxanne the Rustboro City Gym Leader and the challengers Niels and Sander from Littleroot Town. Trainers choose your Pokémon!"

"Go Geodude, Nosepass!" Roxanne said as she threw two Pokéballs forward. The two Pokémon coming out of the balls were a rock with arms and a bluish-colored rock in the shape of a head.

Niels and Sander both took out their Pokédexes. "Geodude, the Rock Pokémon. Geodude has incredibly high defensive power, making it virtually resistant to any physical attacks." "Nosepass, the Compass Pokémon. Its nose is a magnet. As a result, this Pokémon always keeps its face pointing north. "

And it was right, the Nosepass wasn't even facing them, it was looking in the same direction as the referee.

"Mudkip, let's do this!" Sander yelled. "Go, Torchic!"

"Ladies first." Niels said.

"Your mistake." Roxanne replied with a smile. "Geodude use Rock Polish, Nosepass fire a Zap Cannon at the Mudkip.

The Geodude slowly began to sparkle while Nosepass shot an orb of yellow lightning towards Mudkip. "Dodge it! Then counter with Mud Slap!" Sander commanded.

"Torchic weaken that Geodude with Ember!"

While Mudkip managed to dodge the attack and sent pieces of mud flying towards Nosepass afterwards. Torchic shot flames at the still unmoving Geodude, however a few moments before impact it vanished.

"What?" Niels shouted.

Roxanne was simply smiling. "Geodude Rock Throw, Nosepass take the attack and then use Rock Tomb!"

Geodude shot forward from the side with a rock in its hands. "Torchic jump in the air!"

"Mudkip shoot at it with a Water Gun!" Sander commanded as he saw the Nosepass jump up to an incredible height before falling down on the ground.

"Now Rollout." Torchic barely managed to evade the boulder but then Geodude rolled towards it, hitting the small bird.

"It's coming around for another one, Sand Attack followed by an Ember, then jump out of the way!"

When Nosepass hit the ground, Mudkip was immediately surrounded by rocks that had come up from underneath. It was unable to move. "Mudkip, use Water Gun to propel yourself out of there. Next use another Mud Slap and sent them forward with a Water Gun!"

Roxanne raised her eyebrows. That was interesting.

Meanwhile Geodude came back for another hit however this time Torchic threw sand in its face then followed it up with an Ember attack. Geodude missed Torchic and headed straight for Nosepass.

"Geodude stop!" Roxanne commanded, but to no avail. Geodude, who was on fire, crashed into Nosepass creating a loud bang and smoke covered the two Pokémon, then the Mud Slap and Water Gun combination hit the two. Both Niels and Sander looked as though they had just won.

When the smoke finally settled they were surprised to see they were wrong.

"Geodude is unable to battle!" The referee said. Nosepass was still standing up as though he had not taken any damage. Roxanne returned her Geodude.

"Impossible. "Sander said surprised. "It hasn't even taken any damage."

"I think you are wrong about that. It just doesn't show it." Niels said.

"Nosepass, use Rock Slide!"

Nosepass started to glow blue and so did a rock from the field. The two started flying towards each other at high speed, When they connected, the rock spat into dozens of pieces, all sent flying towards Torchic and Mudkip.

Mudkip managed to dodge a few and then glowed white before being hit. Torchic took the full blow. "Torchic is unable to battle!" The referee said. Niels took out Torchic's Pokéball and recalled him.

He looked at Sander. "It's up to you now. Give her hell." He said with a smirk. Then walked over to Touko and sat next to her.

"Heh, she has no idea what is going to hit her." He said. "Mudkip unleash your Bide attack now!" Roxanne had no words to bring out. She didn't know that Mudkip had been storing energy.

Mudkip shot a white beam from his mouth which connected with Nosepass as it was too slow to move. It was a devastating blow and when the smoke finally cleared they saw that it still stood up.

_'How is it still standing up?' _Niels thought. _'There must be a rule against this.' _Sander must have been thinking the same.

Roxanne slowly recovered, she had not expected that Bide attack to do so much damage, she thought that Nosepass wouldn't have made it through. "Nosepass, let's finish this, use your Zap Ca-" She got cut off when Nosepass fell over and crashed down onto the ground.

"Nosepass is unable to battle! The winners of this match are the challengers Sander and Niels!"

"We did it?" Sander said, he looked at Niels and saw a big smile on his face. He saw that he wanted to walk up to him but Touko was already hugging him. He couldn't suppress a smile when he looked at Niels his face again which was filled with a look that said 'help me!'.

"You shouldn't be hugging me, I didn't win, Sander did it." He said as he tried to gently push her off of him.

She finally let go. "You did it together. And you showed her that not everything can be learned by studying books for hours."

Sander was finally next to them. Niels grabbed his hand and shook it. "You did it, I knew you could. I was actually scared that you were going to lose when I saw that Nosepass had managed to shake off the attack, glad I was wrong."

"Thanks." He looked at Touko. "I don't need a hug from you, got it?"

She looked back at him. "Who said I was even going to give you one?"

"We should be happy, and not like this." Niels said. When he saw Roxanne stand next to them, he turned to face her.

"As the Gym Leader of Rustboro City, I present you with these Stone Badges." She was holding out her hands and two rectangular shaped shimmering badges were in her hand.

Both grabbed one and said together: "We got a Stone Badge!" While holding it dramatically in the air.

"Maybe we will see each other again." She held out her hand.

"Maybe we will." Niels said as he shook it.

**A/N: Wow, this Chapter is longer then the others and I thought about have the meeting with Touko's parents in this one too.**

**And will they meet again?**

**One down, seven to go. ;)**

**Taillow isn't forgotten, we will see it in the next chapter again. Rowan will make another (probably final) appearance too. And possibly two OC's, though no promises. :D**

**Review please.**


	11. Parenting Issues!

**A/N: Now this is going to be a slower chapter that is mostly about story progression. There will be two reader submitted OC's at the end, they will get a lot more attention in the next chapter.**

**Want to thank: 'tac1060', 'Sonicboom123456', 'MeguMegu3.0', 'Addie Marie Jones', 'Cerridwen-Maiden', 'Wildstar of Windclan' and '3rdbase101' for reviewing the last chapter.**

**Anyway let's get on with the show!**

Our three friends were walking away from the Gym, Niels and Sander now had their first badge but they need another seven to compete in the Ever Grande Conference.

"So, where do you want to go?" Niels asked to both of them.

"Well I need to see my parents and show them Treecko. After that we need to go to the Pokémon Center to check on Taillow, I want to see how it's doing." Touko said.

"I got nothing left to do here, I think." Sander said while he shook his head.

"Well follow me then!" And with that Touko ran off, only looking back to check if the boys were following her. "Slowpokes!" she said with a chuckle when she saw she had a big lead.

The ran into a more rich area of the town. Big villas were on both sides of the road, Niels and Sander had caught up with Touko but they kept running. Finally they reached what looked like the final house though neither of them would call it a house, it was a giant villa.

"This is your house?" Niels asked.

"This might even match your house Niels." Sander said as he took in the size of it. He was slightly confused, he hadn't expected Touko to be rich.

"Don't be ridiculous, my house is not this big..." Niels said.

"Yup, this is my house." She said, although bitterness was in her voice.

Niels noticed this. "You don't really want to be here?"

She lowered her head as she walked towards the front door. "Me and my mother don't exactly see eye-to-eye." She rand the doorbell. "She doesn't want me to hang out with anyone below my 'class', and she hates Pokémon. But I still want to decide with them on what I want to become."

Sander smiled. "I know what you mean, the Pokémon thingy at least."

The door opened revealing an older man with gray hair and he was wearing a traditional black and white butler outfit. "Ah, miss Touko. Where have you been?"

"Hey, Alfred!" Touko said as she ran towards him and gave him a hug. "And I told you to call me Touko, none of this formal stuff for me."

The butler, Alfred, got startled a bit when she hugged him. But by now he knew to expect these kind of things from her. She wasn't going to follow her mother's footsteps after all. "Your parents have been worried sick since you disappeared two weeks ago." He said as he released her and looked behind him to see if anyone was coming. "I assume you have gotten your Pokémon?" He almost whispered that last bit.

"Of course I have." She held out a Pokéball in front of him. "Look!"

"Good." He paused for a moment. "You know you shouldn't have had come here. You could still just walk away and I will pretend this conversation never happened." He gave her a wink.

But Touko shook her head. "Either my parents are going to approve of this, or I don't want to see them anymore. I have gone this far and if I don't tell them then every person in Hoenn is going to look for me."

Alfred smiled. "You are probably right, your parents sure know how to set rewards. They already did, 10,000 Pokédollars for the person who would bring you back home." Only now did Alfred notice that there were two people standing behind Touko. "And who might these two be?" He still smiled but his eyes gave a concerned look, as if he didn't want the last conversation to be heard by anyone.

"They are friends of mine." She pointed at the two. "This is Niels and that is Sander. Niels and Sander, this is Alfred the family-butler.

Niels reached out with his hand ans Alfred shook it. "Pleasure to meet you." Niels said.

"A friend of Touko is a friend of mine." Alfred let go of Niels his hand and was now shaking Sander's.

"Hey." Is what he simply said. He didn't quite understand the concept of needing a butler. _'Can't you just do all the work yourself?' _He thought.

Niels made a mental note to teach Sander something about greeting people they don't know.

Alfred focused his attention back to Touko. "I can't let them in, your mother wouldn't allow it. They aren't 'her class'."

Touko got a sad look on her face. "I understand." And she got inside. "Would you two mind waiting out here?" She asked.

"Not at all." Sander said.

"Are you going to be all right in there, alone?" Niels asked.

Touko smiled. "I am not alone, I got Alfred with me for moral support." And with that she walked towards the end of the hall.

Alfred looked at the pair for a moment. "I will send Master Richard to meet you, he is her father and I think it is best for his own health to stay out of the coming confrontation anyway."

Alfred turned around and closed the door leaving Niels and Sander standing outside.

"If it starts snowing then we bust down that door." Sander said.

Niels smiled. "See, you two have a lot more in common then you think, you know the relationship with your mothers. Now how about the two of you start acting like friends?"

Sander stared at Niels. "If you will shut up about it then I will give it a shot." Both of them looked at the door as it opened, revealing a man in his forties. He had short combed blond hair, and was wearing a suit without a tie. He looked tired, as if he had been fighting all day long. Niels couldn't help but think that he had seen this man before.

"You must be Touko's friends I presume. Alfred told me about the two of you and said it would be better to talk with you then to be there when my daughter has a little talk with her mother." His tiredness went away, albeit only a little. "I suppose he is right." A subtle smile formed on his face.

"Anyway let's skip the formalities and get to the point. I assume that Touko is going to want to travel with you?"

Niels and Sander looked at each other. Neither of them had actually thought about it yet since Touko wanted to discuss what she wanted to become with her parents. They thought that she would be staying in Rustboro for a while. "I guess that is an option for her. But that is up to Touko to decide." Niels said.

"Hmm, I see." Richard looked at the two for awhile before he spoke again. "Well, if she wants to go with you then I want you to look after her."

"Of course! She is our friend, why wouldn't we?" Niels said, he was confused why he even asked them that. He paused for a moment. "We don't exactly know a lot about her, doesn't she have like a brother or sister? She didn't seem to want to come here after all, and it looks like all she got is Alfred."

The expression on Richards face went from tired to downright sad. "She has an older brother who should be 18 years old right about now, but we haven't heard from him since he went on his own Pokémon journey." He hesitated, but decided it was better to tell these two the complete story because Touko had been feeling very alone a lot of the time, as if something was missing, they wouldn't understand her sadness if he didn't tell them. "She also has a twin-brother. She doesn't know that, and I would like to keep it that way until we find him as we have been trying to do so for two years."

Sander was confused. "Wait, how can she not know she has a twin-brother?"

"It was a mistake, we separated the two at a young age, it is a long story. At least we made two parents happy, but we never saw him again."

Now it was Niels his turn to be confused. "First of all, why are you telling us this? Second, what do you mean b-" He stopped when he heard the door slam open and Touko ran outside with tears flowing down from her eyes. She didn't even stop to say how it went. They just heard one single word: "Bitch.".

Niels wanted to run after her but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back to see Alfred standing behind him. "When she is like this, she wants to be alone. If she needs a shoulder to cry on, then she will come to you." Niels nodded, Alfred probably knew her better then he did. Besides it seemed like they had a bigger problem to deal with right now when they heard something behind them.

"Alfred, Richard! I need a word with you two!" A woman's voice shouted.

"I think you should go." Alfred said.

"I think so too. Goodbye." And Sander took off.

Niels looked at his friend walking away. "Nice meeting you." And with that he ran after Sander.

_~=*Rustboro City Pokémon Center, thirty minutes later*=~_

"Ah, there you are. I was wondering if you had already left." A familiar elderly voice said.

"Oh, hello Professor Rowan, Mr. Stone." Niels said to the two people standing in front of him. Sander gave a nod in their direction.

"You know Mr. Stone? Well he is the owner of Devon Corporation after all." He noted as the other, also old, man nodded. He was wearing a purple suit and a white hat. He was slightly tanned, has white hair and had a friendly expression on his face.

"I heard that you helped my good friend Professor Rowan. It seems like Team Aqua and Magma have increased their activities lately." He sighed as he thought back to an older memory from just a few days ago. "Needless to say, Professor Rowan insisted that I should give you a reward since he doesn't have any of his own inventions with him."

Sander was wonder what this could be however he also realized they were missing someone.

"However, I was told that there were three people, and right here there are two."

Niels closed his eyes for a moment. "We have no idea where Touko is, she got upset by something personal."

"Well then, be sure to give one of these to her." Mr. Stone said as he handed over three identical boxes, the contents of which were unknown. "Which way are you heading once you leave Rustboro?"

"I had the idea to go through the Rusturf Tunnel but we haven't made any decisions yet." Niels replied.

"I see, well I am sorry to tell you this but the tunnel collapsed a few days ago." Niels's face went back into depression in which it had been before the two men showed up. Mr. Stone was in deep thought. "You could go to Dewford Island. I have a friend who has a boat, he will take you there. I will call ahead to notify him that you are coming, if that is that okay with you?"

"Sounds good to me." Sander said. He liked being on a boat, it gave him a feeling that was hard to describe.

"His name is Mr. Briney, I am sure he will give you a ride once I freshen up his memory. Just head for the Rustboro Harbor, Goodbye." Mr. Stone said as he turned around and left the Pokémon Center.

Rowan watched the two kids for a few more seconds. "Be sure not to get yourself into trouble." He said and then he also left the building.

Niels and Sander watched both of them leave. _'I wonder what is in it.' _Niels thought. "Come on, let's open it!" Sander said. Presents always made him go nuts and he could never wait to open them.

"If you want to open yours then that is your decision, but I'm waiting for Touko." He handed one of the boxes to Sander.

Sander looked from the box to Niels. "Are you trying to make me feel guilty?" He chuckled. "But I can live with that."

Niels couldn't believe what he just heard. Sander was willing to wait with opening a present because someone isn't here, that's nothing like him maybe he was changing.

"Hey guys!" They turned around and saw Touko standing there with a Taillow sitting on her shoulder. "Taillow is going to come with us, aren't you?"

"Taillow!" The bird said as he rubbed his head against her cheek.

"So where are we going?" She asked.

"I take it that you're coming with us then?" She nodded. "We are going to Dewford Island, someone will give us a boat ride there, so let's go." Niels said.

Sander was looking at the box in his hands. "Now you are just being mean." He said.

"What's that?" Touko asked when she noticed the three boxes in their hands.

"We will explain on the boat." Niels said and he walked off.

_~=*Rustboro City Harbor, twenty five minutes later*=~_

An old bald man with a big white beard and mustache wearing a pair a beige trousers, a blue shirt with rolled up sleeves and a red jacket ran up the the trio.

"You must be the three I got a call about right?" He said

"Are you Mr. Briney?" Sander asked. Suddenly he was not so sure about this anymore, this seemed like someone who wouldn't mind a few big waves.

"I sure am! And I am going to take you to Dewford Island, because apparently I still owed Mr. Stone a favor. And call me Briney!" He talked pretty fast and with a real sailor accent like he was an old pirate. "Follow me to the boat!"

He ran off at a very fast pace for his age. The trio followed him to his boat, which to their surprise was a very modern boat. It was a white and shining yacht, it was big enough to house a few dozen people. Briney went on to the yacht. "Well, hop aboard!" He said.

"WAIT!" All four of them turned around to see two girls, who looked identical except for their clothes and hair-color and one of them had glasses, running towards them. "Are you going to Dewford Island? We have been looking for a fucking boat for an hour now." The one without glasses said.

"No can do. I don't do freebies." Briney said.

"Hold on. You are giving us a free ride aren't you?" Touko said, she didn't like the way Briney was behaving right now.

Briney seemed to think about this for a second. "The ride is 150 Pokédollars each." He got aboard his ship and went into the wheelhouse.

"We are not going to pay that kind of goddamn money for a boat trip, asshole!" The same girl as earlier said.

Niels was searching in his backpack. Once he found what he was looking for he shouted at Briney. "I'll pay for them." He held up the money towards the wheelhouse when Briney looked through the window.

"Well then you are welcome to join on board ladies!" He was suddenly smiling again.

"Sis, we can't just accept that can we?" The other girl spoke for the first time.

"Yes we can, now get on board."

**A/N: This chapter turned out to be longer then I wanted to, meaning I have to split it up again -.-**

**Anyway, like I said, mostly story here, although there are two OC's at the end submitted by a reader. We will go more in depth on them in the next chapter. (Which will probably take place on the ship completely) Also next chapter will have more Pokémon in them (AND BATTLES!), the almost complete absence in this chapter is something I don't really like.**

**We will see Alfred again, I am not sure about Touko's parents though. And her brother and twin-brother, who knows? ;)**

**From now on trying to get 1 chapter every 3 days.**

**Reviews are very appreciated! (I live on them ;) )**


	12. Timber Island!

**A/N: And back again with another chapter, this would have been up a LOT earlier had it not been for the major FanFiction problem that almost everyone seems to be having. Meaning unable to add new chapters to stories. I know how to bypass it now, so no more of that problem.  
**

**Anyway, I just realized that the two OC's are not wearing any clothes since the reviewer didn't submit them... PM'ed. Still no answer, so I made something up.**

**Anyway I want to thank: 'Cerridwen-Maiden', 'Yuki-Judai123', 'MeguMegu3.0', 'Addie Marie Jones', 'Burning Moon of the Sky', 'A Sea of Sound', 'Sonicboom123456', 'tac1060' and 'Inhuman X' for reviewing or commenting on the last or previous chapters.**

**Also want to thank: 'skeletonavenue' for trying to help me with the FanFiction problem. Unfortunatly, link blockage in PM's suck.  
**

**Also, check your Inbox first before asking me questions twice! DON'T ASK ME WHEN YOUR OC WILL ARRIVE, I DON'T KNOW, it's all changing by the minute! ;)**

**Anyway, Enjoy!**

It was early in the afternoon when a white yacht was making it's way across the watery sea routes of Hoenn.

"Come on out everyone!" One of the people on board of the ship said as he threw three Pokéballs in the air releasing a Torchic, Bagon and Zigzagoon. Not much later followed by other Pokémon when a Mudkip, Poochyena, Treecko and Taillow appeared. They got joined by two unknown Pokémon who walked towards them.

The first was a small yellow colored rodent. The tips of its large ears are black, and it had additional black markings on its neck and tail. Its tail was short, it had pink pouches in its cheeks and a nose the size of a dot.

The second was a small, fox-like Pokémon that had a red-brown pelt, brown eyes and six orange tails. It also had what looked like orange bangs across its forehead as well as locks.

"So... who are you?" Sander asked the two girls who were standing in front of them.

"Oh right, I am Merina and this is is my sister Selina. As you can see we are twins." The first girl now known as Merina said.

Merina had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore a light-blue sleeveless shirt and a red skirt. She also had white and red shoes on and carried a red bag.

Selina on the other hand had brown hair, green eyes and freckles across her face. She also had a pair of glasses. She wore a knee-length white skirt with a white and green shirt. She also had a green bag.

"I am Niels." Niels said as he looked at the two. "I am Touko." Touko said. "And my name is Sander." Sander said while he looked back at the horde of Pokémon who seemed quite happy with the presence of the newcomers.

"Are you both trainers?" Touko asked.

"No, I am a trainer but Selina is a researcher in training. And now they want me to stay with her because it is too 'dangerous' out here alone, not that I mind, but it kinda removes to ability for me to train. Anyway as I was saying, researching is fun and all but I can't help but feel like we ha-" Merina said very in a fast pace before she got cut off by Niels.

"I don't want to be rude but you are giving me a headache." Niels said. "I'll challenge you to a match if you like."

Apparently Mr. Briney heard the words 'challenge' and 'match' and ran downstairs from the wheelhouse. "No battles aboard this ship! We don't want to sink in the middle of nowhere now do we lads." Everyone just looked at him, their mouths wide open, none of them knew what to say to that. Briney noticed this and said: "Don't worry we will make a pit-stop at a small island for the night, you can battle each other there just make sure that these Pokémon here don't start attacking one another."

"Good." Sander said. "I can't wait for some more battling."

"We battled Roxanne this morning, do you really want to battle so badly already?" Niels said to Sander. "I say we just relax for the time being. What could go wrong then?"

Everyone agreed and went to pick their own spot aboard for the moment. Niels and Sander stayed behind only to take out their Pokédexes to scan those two Pokémon belonging to the twins.

"Pichu, the Tiny Mouse Pokémon. A pre-evolved form of Pikachu. Despite their size, Pichu release bursts of electricity that can shock even humans. However, Pichu are unskilled at controlling their electricity, and sometimes release it by accident when surprised, or when laughing and shock themselves."

The Pichu was trying to climb on top of Zigzagoon who didn't seem to mind. Poochyena could be seen smirking behind them as he pretended to be asleep. Once Pichu had climbed to the top, he sat down in Zigzagoon's fur who then took off to run around the ship. Pichu could be heard laughing before they went around the corner.

"Looks like those two are having fun." Niels said with a smile as Sander pointed his own Pokédex at the fox Pokémon.

"Vulpix, the Fox Pokémon. As it develops, its single white tail gains color and splits into six. It is quite warm and cuddly."

The Vulpix walked towards them and started sniffing their shoes. "So you are warm and cuddly eh?" Niels got down on his knees and started to pet Vulpix. "You know, I think the Pokédex is right for once."

Vulpix liked it until: "Vul-vul-piiiix!" It sneezed creating a flamethrowers worth of fire hitting Niels straight in his face.

Sander and Poochyena started laughing as Vulpix ran off towards Torchic, Treecko and Mudkip.

"Pi-pi-pi-pi-pi-pi!" Zigzagoon and Pichu came back with Pichu still laughing. When Zigzagoon tried to go through Sander's legs, Pichu's laughter became too much to handle. "Chuuuuuuu!" It created a bolt of lightning which hit itself, Zigzagoon and Sander. Poochyena was now laughing even more until he saw Pichu got up and was now walking towards him with a sly grin on it's face, then he decided it was better to run off.

_~=*Other side of the ship, same time*=~_

"Chuuuuuuu!" Could be heard in the distance. "What was that?" Touko asked. But when she saw it was Selina who sat there she didn't even expect a reply. After all, she had not said a word to anyone but her sister.

Selina looked up and stopped writing in what looked like a journal. "Pichu shocked itself." She started writing again.

Touko looked at the girl for a few more seconds, seeing as Selina was getting uncomfortable about it Touko turned away and leaned on the railing watching the sea.

She noticed Merina walking in the direction of which the sound came and ran after her.

"Why is Selina so quiet?" She asked.

"I don't know, I really have no fucking idea. She just is. She is also very shy among new people, but she can become slightly more talkative once she knows them better." Merina answered. It had become clear that she liked to use swearwords so Touko ignored them.

When they turned the next corner they saw the two boys and Zigzagoon laying on the floor while Pichu was trying to get to the other Pokémon that were around but they were too fast for it.

"What happened here?" Touko asked when she saw them.

"Vulpix, can you come over here?" Merina said. Vulpix ran towards her and jumped in her arms. "Now what did I tell you about sneezing? You don't do it in someone's face unless I tell you to."

"Vul..." Vulpix seemed upset about what happened, she didn't mean to do it.

Touko looked from Vulpix to Niels and then to Sander and Zigzagoon. "That doesn't explain what happened to those two." Pointing at the pair, but then she noticed Pichu walking towards them.

"That was you wasn't it?" Merina asked with a smile though she sounded a little bit angry. Pichu simply nodded with a huge smile on its face and ran away to find Selina. "I told her to keep that little runt under control."

"What do we do with them?" Touko asked, she saw a huge grin on Merina's face which quickly disappeared when she saw movement coming from one of them.

"Do what with who?" Niels asked as he rubbed his hand against his forehead. "How long was I out? All I remember was that that Vulpix sneezed and then a fire started." He looked around to see Sander and his Zigzagoon laying next to him. "I don't even want to know." He got up and went inside the ship, probably to clean the black scorches off of him.

Merina's grin returned for a second when she looked at Sander but it quickly got away when she saw that he was also regaining his consciousness. "What happened?" He asked, but nobody answered, instead they turned around and left, However Pichu had returned and it started walking towards Sander.

_~=*Close to Timber Island, later that day*=~_

"There it is everyone! Our stop for the night, Timber Island." Briney said as he was pointing towards an island that pretty much completely consisted of trees aside from a small beach area.

"Swimming!" Niels said cheerfully.

"If you want to get eaten by Sharpedo's then that is a possibility, yes." Briney said.

"So much for swimming then." Sander said disappointed, he too looked forward to it.

The boat laid anchor a few meters from the beach and Briney pressed a button in the wheelhouse which revealed a rowing boat. "Come on, come on. Time's a-wastin'!

Everyone got onto the rowing boat and Briney set sail towards the island. Once everyone arrived He got some firewood out of the boat and started making a campfire. Meanwhile, everyone else just looked around for a bit.

Aside from the small beach there was not much space. Thick trees prevented anyone from entering the forest on the island. There were a couple of benches, and traces of previous travelers who had come by for a rest here.

Touko looked around for a moment and saw that Niels was alone a little further away from everyone else. She walked up to him: "Hey, mind if I test your 'skills'?"

"You mean the emotional thingy? Sure." He sat down on a bench and she sat next to him. She held out her hand and he grabbed it. Before he knew it an excruciating pain went through his heart and stayed there. He looked at Touko but she just had her eyes closed focusing on her emotion. _'What the hell is this?' _He thought.

He couldn't feel any sort of emotion aside from that she was waiting and became increasingly impatient, but that could not be what she wanted as an answer. He had to let go, this would kill him if he didn't let go but for some reason he could not bring himself to do so, he could not 'turn off' his 'power' either. Suddenly he heard a voice.

"Hey, you didn't tell me you two were a couple!" Merina said. She had approached them slowly from behind and saw they were holding hands. Touko let Niels's hand go. The pain was mostly away instantly.

"No, that's not... We're just... We're..." Her face got completely red. How could she explain this to someone who had a huge grin on her face and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. She looked at Niels but something was wrong with him again. Niels saw Touko looking and simply nodded. "Niels can feel the emotional state of someone he touches. So I wanted to test him." Touko said, assuming that is what the nod meant.

"Really?" She didn't believe them, but wanted to try it out for herself. "So if I do this?" She grabbed his hand and another string of pain went through him. This one was a whole lot less powerful though.

"You are curious, surprised, a little bit annoyed… and right now perplexed too." He could feel something else as well, but he thought it was way too different from the rest so decided not to tell her that.

She let go. "Your shitting me, that's amazing." She continued to stare at him for a few more seconds. "Anyway want to battle?"

"Wait hold on, what did you feel with me?" Touko asked.

"Before I answer that I have a question. Were you fighting me, mentally?"

Touko looked confused. "No, why?"

"I didn't feel anything." Okay, that was an outright lie, he did feel something, but that had nothing to do with it, it didn't belong to Touko. "I'll see you in a moment." He said to Merina.

Both of them looked at him as he walked away, faster then usual.

"I'm not saying a word." Merina said with a grin and a wink as she turned around and followed Niels.

Touko wanted to have a good comeback to that, but she couldn't think of one and eventually got up and walked towards the now burning campfire.

_~=*Rowing Boat, five minutes later*=~_

He was searching through his backpack. _'Where is it?' _He thought to himself.

"Are you are looking for this?" Sander was standing behind him and holding up a bottle with a clear, slightly green colored, liquid inside of it.

"Give me that!" Niels grabbed it out of his hand and started drinking from it. After about three seconds, half the bottle was empty and he handed it back over to Sander.

"You know you shouldn't drink that. It is addicting, and it will kill you if you drink too much of it." Sander said as he stowed away the bottle in his own backpack.

Niels was just staring at the stuff he threw out of his backpack just to find it. "I know... but I have to. Anyway, I have a battle to win, let's go."

When they approached the campfire they saw everyone was seated aside from Merina, who was standing on on side of an improvised field.

"Does a two-on-two work for you?" She asked.

He nodded. "Ladies first." He said.

"Let's do this, Skarmory!" She shouted as a silver Pokémon appeared out of it's Pokéball. It was a bird with a long neck and long legs, a few of it's wings were colored red.

"Skarmory, the Armor Bird Pokémon. Because Skarmory nests in briers and is constantly scratched by thorns, its wings become razor sharp."

"Go, Torchic!" Niels threw his Pokéball forward, releasing his always faithful friend Torchic.

_'At least I have the advantage in this battle.' _Niels thought as he waited for Merina to make her first move.

"Start off with a Peck attack!" Skarmory's beak turned white and it started flying towards Torchic.

"Torchic, counter with your own then use an Ember attack!" Niels commanded.

Both Skarmory and Torchic were now closing in with their white beaks fast. When they collided Torchic flew slightly backwards and then released its Ember attack.

"Quick Skarmory, dodge!" Skarmory flew upwards, but not before getting hit by a few of the tiny flames. "Now move in with a Steel Wing!" Skarmory's wings glowed white as he raced towards Torchic.

"Torchic time your jump and land on top of him!"

Torchic jumped moments before Skarmory would hit him, however he now missed and suddenly felt an extra bit of weight on him.

"Hit him full with Ember!" Niels shouted.

Torchic released a ton of flames on Skarmory each and every one of them was hitting. Skarmory then fell down onto the ground.

"Skarmory, Fly into Aerial Ace!"

Without warning, from the dust that the impact created, a shining bird flew up in the air at an enormous speed. It then used that speed to turn around towards Torchic and due to gravity it got even faster. Skarmory got engulfed by white light surrounding him before hitting Torchic.

"This battle is over." Merina said with a smile.

"Torchic!"

Skarmory flew back to its original starting position. When the dust finally settled everyone was amazed to see Torchic still standing. Barely, but standing. Torchic glowed in a white bright light, it got taller and wider until the light faded and a whole different Pokémon was in its place.

"Cooombusken!" It said.

"He evolved!" Niels said while he grabbed his Pokédex.

"Combusken, the Young Fowl Pokémon. Combusken is the evolved form of Torchic. Its quick, powerful kicking legs can deliver as many as 10 kicks per second."

Niels smirked. "This battle is far from over."

**A/N: Cliffhanger!**

**Who will win? Who are YOU rooting for? What is in those damn boxes? What gave Niels that excruciating pain? Why am I asking these questions when I know the answers (mostly) ? :D**

**Decided to end it here because the chapter would get too long otherwise. (Next chapter will be 3000+ words!)**

**We shall open the boxes next time (On this island)**

**Anyway this is the last chapter to submit an OC! So if you want to then you have got until the next chapter is up.**

**We might see a familiar face or two in the next chapter ;)**

**Review please.**


	13. Arriving at Dewford!

**A/N: No more OC's are being accepted from now on! You've had long enough to submit them.**

**As always thanking: 'New Musica', 'Burning Moon of the Sky', 'Addie Marie Jones', 'tac1060', 'Inhuman X', 'MeguMegu3.0', 'Cerridwen-Maiden' and 'Wildstar of Wildclan' for reviewing.**

**So much for 3000+ words, I expected this one to be longer -.-**

_'Skarmory flew back to its original starting position. When the dust finally settled everyone was amazed to see Torchic still standing. Barely, but standing. Torchic glowed in a white bright light, it got taller and wider until the light faded and a whole different Pokémon was in its place._

"_Cooombusken!" It said._

"_He evolved!" Niels said while he grabbed his Pokédex._

"_Combusken, the Young Fowl Pokémon. Combusken is the evolved form of Torchic. Its quick, powerful kicking legs can deliver as many as 10 kicks per second."_

_Niels smirked. "This battle is far from over."'_

Everyone was looking at the now evolved Combusken. Even Selina was now focusing on the battle instead of her journal because this was the first time she had actually seen a Pokémon evolve in person.

Merina was taken aback for a moment, but then she realised that now the type-advantage was gone for Niels. "Combusken is partially a fighting type Pokémon, so Skarmory will wipe the floor with you."

Niels just smiled. "That's what you hope... Combusken use your Ember attack, then use the distraction it makes to attack it with a Double Kick!"

"Skarmory dodge them with Fly, then turn it into an Aerial Ace again!"

Combusken fired a bunch of flames towards Skarmory, who got hit by a few before taking off into the air. Once there, it turned around to fly towards Combusken, who in turn was shooting forward with its legs to perform the Double Kick.

However before Skarmory could hit Combusken, it had already hit him. After receiving two quick kicks to the head Skarmory fell down from the sky and had trouble getting back up to its feet.

_'Looks like I need to hit it with attacks from a distance.' _Merina thought to herself. "Fly back up in the air and use Air Cutter!"

Skarmory flew back in the air and started waving its wings to create light blue colored s-shaped discs which flew towards Combusken.

"Dodge them!" Niels ordered, and Combusken managed to easily dodge the discs flung at him. "Now finish it off! One more Double Kick!" Combusken did what he was told and ran towards Skarmory, at the last moment it jumped up in the air and delivered two kicks to Skarmory's belly.

Skarmory fell down do the ground, unconscious.

Merina called her Skarmory back, she was upset that she had lost against that Combusken, but this wasn't over yet. She looked at her Vulpix which had been sitting on the sideline the entire time. "We can do this Vulpix!"

Vulpix ran onto the field and placed itself opposite of Combusken. _'Now we just have to hope he uses a Fire-type move'_ She thought as a grin formed on her face.

"Alright, let's start this off with a Quick Attack!" Merina commanded.

"Use an Ember when it gets close, the dive out of the way." Niels said. Though Merina couldn't hear it, Combusken did. He knew Fire-type moves wouldn't do a whole lot, but the Vulpix might get distracted.

When Vulpix arrived at Combusken she suddenly felt a few flames hit her body, they didn't do any damage, instead she absorbed their power. Combusken dived out of the way just in time for Vulpix to miss.

"Now finish him with Flamethrower!" Vulpix let out a huge stream of red and orange fire which hit Combusken right in the chest.

Combusken fell down. It was knocked out. "What the hell just happened?" Niels asked, but then he looked at Merina, all he could see was a smile. She wasn't going to tell him anything.

"Combusken, return." He said as he returned Combusken into its Pokéball. "Go, Bagon!" He threw his second Pokéball forward, revealing the small blue Dragon.

"Use another Flamethrower, followed by a Bite!"

"Bagon dodge the Flamethrower, then counter with your Headbutt!"

Vulpix released yet another stream of red and orange colored fire, Bagon managed to evade it and then came running forwards with its stone-hardened head. Vulpix meanwhile, started charging forward with its mouth open and fangs were emitting from it.

The head turned out to be stronger when the two Pokémon collided and Vulpix was sent backwards a little.

"Flamethrower from point-blank range!" Merina commanded.

"Use your DragonBreath!" Niels shouted.

The two Pokémon let out a rainbow of colors. When red and orange collided with green and yellow, it created a huge explosion with both Bagon and Vulpix caught in the middle of them.

When the smoke from the explosion settled, both Pokémon were out.

"It's a tie?" Niels asked dumbfounded. Both of them recalled their Pokémon.

"Well, that was an interesting match." Merina said. "We should do that again sometime." With that, she walked to the campfire and sat down next to her sister who had things to show about something as she was eagerly showing her her journal.

Niels walked over to Sander and Touko, both were holding a box. "You can't stop me from opening it anymore." Sander said as he handed the last box over to Niels. Then he started opening his own very eagerly.

When he opened the box there was a beige colored machine alongside a note and an instruction manual.

The note said: _'Hello Mr. Niels, Mr. Sander and Ms. Touko._

_This is the latest version of the PokéNav, a marvelous device which will probably help you on your journey. There are some features hidden (they are not in the instruction manual) that you may find rather interesting._

_I hope you will make good use of this device._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Mr. Stone'_

"Well, that is nice of him." Touko said while she was inspecting it.

"I've always thought PokéNavs were useless. Between a phone and a Pokédex you can do everything, and better." Niels said as he put it back in the box. "Still, it is nice and maybe it will be useful." He looked at Sander, but he was busy trying to find the hidden features.

_~=*Later that night*=~_

_'He felt himself gasp for air as he came back to the surface of the lake, or sea. Last times he was indoor but now he was floating in the water. He swam to a piece of wood and held on to it. When he was finally able to look up, he saw a cruise ship on fire, the rear end was deeper in the water then it should be._

_A small boat raced towards him, and stopped when it was next to him. He heard a girls voice. "You are the luckiest son of a bitch I have ever seen." He looked over the side of the boat, he recognized a few people. Norman was sitting in it, and so were Szac and Firefly, but Firefly was looking at the other side of the boat. Even Lance the Johto Champion was here looking at an empty Pokéball in his hand, however everyone had a grim expression on their face. But there were also many white blurs, as usual. He felt a hand around his arm, he looked to his right and saw Merina. "Come on, we don't have all day you know? We made a detour because I knew you weren't dead."_

"_Am I not?" He said rather depressed. That caught the attention of almost everyone on board. "For all I care about you are some sort of ferryman, who brings us to either heaven or hell... Heaven being the shore, and hell that ship. As far a I know, everyone aboard here could be dead, I don't see anyone that wasn't in the battle." _

_He felt a cold, wet hand slap his left-cheek. "Well, then its a good thing neither of us believe in that crap." Merina said. He didn't know this, but she was fighting back tears. He felt a smile creep on his face._

"_Good to see some things never change." He reached out with his hand and got pulled aboard.'_

He opened his eyes and woke up. He didn't get startled anymore by the dreams, by now it was becoming a routine. It confused him to see that it didn't happen daily, but perhaps that was better.

He talked in his sleep, that much he knew since the last dream. That could also mean that someone heard this one. He looked around for a bit. Someone had heard him talk, he couldn't see who, but he felt that one of them was listening.

He decided it was best not to look for the person, and went back to sleep.

_~=*Mr. Briney's yacht, the next day*=~_

The yacht was making its way across the never-ending sea routes of Hoenn. Dewford Island was inching closer by the minute, they would arrive very soon.

Sander was walking across the ship, looking for something to do. As much as he loved being on a boat, he hated having nothing to do. He noticed Selina sitting at the side of the ship drawing something, he also noticed an entire books worth of drawings next to her.

"Did you make these?" He asked when he picked one up. It was a drawing of several Wurmple sleeping around a tree. She nodded, barely noticing that he was even there. "They look pretty good. You sure you want to be a researcher and not an artist?"

She blushed, as she always did when someone gave her a compliment. "Yeah, I'm sure" She looked at her current drawing, it was of a couple of Water Pokémon she had just seen swimming alongside the boat. "Here," She handed him the drawing. "Keep it if you like it."

Sander took the drawing, he recognized the Pokémon, but not their names. "Thanks." he said, but she had already left. He was wondering how she could have gone away without him noticing.

A speaker shouted across the deck. "Peeko just told me that Dewford Island can be seen in just a few moments! So if you want to catch the first glimpse of the island, then you better head to the front of the ship now!"

"Who is Peeko?" Touko asked to Merina who was sitting next to her.

She shrugged. "No idea, probably someone who keeps an eye on boats with a radar or something."

Touko looked quite scared when she saw Vulpix walking up to her. "Your Vulpix isn't going to sneeze, is it?" She asked with concern, she remembered what happened to Niels.

"Don't worry, Vulpix doesn't sneeze unless I tell her to. If she does, then she actually had to sneeze." She added while she laughed.

Touko wasn't completely satisfied with that answer, but she had no choice then to trust her.

_~=*Dewford Island Docks, twenty minutes later*=~_

"Well then lads, this is goodbye. I am sure we will meet again, but until then, goodbye." Mr. Briney said as he turned around and went back in his ship to return to Rustboro.

Once he had left Niels said: "I wonder how long it will take him to realize I never paid anything."

"You what?" Merina said. "I wish I could think of stuff like that."

Well then, I guess this is goodbye?" Touko said, after all they got where they wanted to go and likely had stuff to do here. She didn't want Merina to leave, they had become good friends in the few days to had spend together.

"We are going to the Granite Cave, if you want to look us up before you leave the island then that is the place you have to go." Merina said with a wink.

After everyone had said their goodbyes they watched the twins exit the docks.

"Now then, where are we heading?" Sander asked. "I know there is a Gym here, and this is the perfect spot to go swimming."

"Swimming? You mean surfing!" Niels replied. "Dewford is known for being the best place in Hoenn to do so."

"Well you are the only one of us that knows how to surf since I highly doubt Touko can, so that means swimming for us."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Touko asked angrily.

Sander had just realized he said something stupid. When it came to people he knew, Niels was the only one that knew how to surf, as for Touko he actually had no idea. "Nothing, I just... I'll shut up..."

"To the beach!" Niels said with joy.

A few minutes after they left, Touko noticed something weird. "Guys, isn't it weird that there are hardly any people here?" She looked around, Dewford was a tourist location and there were indeed only a few people here.

"People have been avoiding Dewford for a while now, mostly due to recent Pokémon kidnappings." A voice from behind them said. They turned around to see a man, but he was standing in the shadow, trying not to attract any attention to himself.

"Kidnappings?" Sander asked.

"Yes, at least half of the people on this island have become victim so far. However, it seems like only the strong Pokémon stay kidnapped, while the weaker ones are usually found a few days later. Exhausted and beaten up." He started walking away. "Just be careful."

The trio looked at each other. "Still want to go to the beach?" Sander asked. He just wanted to get out of here as fast as possible now. "Let's just go to the Gym, get our badge, and find a boat to Slateport."

Niels wasn't even listening, he was sure he had seen someone familiar turn into an alley just a few seconds ago, and if he was right, it meant trouble.

Touko had seen it too, that person was acting suspicious. She was not so keen to go that way though. "Don't tell me you want to go after him."

"It's time for some revenge." He whispered, but more to himself then anyone else.

"Wait, what?" Sander was confused, he was standing with his back towards the alley and when he saw both Touko and Niels looking at it, he decided to become smart. "No, we are not chasing anybody. Remember last time?"

"That is exactly why I am going there." Niels walked over towards the alley. Sander face-palmed, he had a bad feeling about this.

When Niels turned his head around the corner, he realized his assumption was correct. "Well, well, well. It's time to prepare for trouble." He said.

Then Sander went in, and to his shock he saw Butch and Cassidy standing there. He quickly recovered. "And make that double." He said with a smile.

The two people in the alley turned around. They were busted.

**A/N: Well, there they are again. I managed to put a mention to the two earlier OC's in the dream.**

**Anyway, I am starting to think about a possible sequel once I am done with this. And I came up with the following: What we are currently in is Season 1, it will last until somewhere between the 6th and 7th Gym. Then I am going to do some AU of my own story to come up with ideas for Season 2 while I am doing that. Once done with the side-story, I will proceed with making Season 2. On which I won't give any details.**

**As far as OC's are concerned. You have submitted them for both S1 and S2, if you do not want me to use them in the side-story, then tell me once I make the official announcement for it (Which won't be for a while, so don't worry)**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed the last chapter.**

**Review please!**


	14. Beachtime!

**A/N: Just asking this once again, if you want to have your OC have a love interest then PM me or write it in your review. It can be from the Anime/Games/My story (I don't care who you pick ;) ) If you specifically do NOT want to have a love interest then you have to tell me as well. I aim to make everyone happy with their OC's so this is necessary information in order for me not to fuck up!**

**As always thanking: 'Inhuman X', 'That's the way I roll', 'Yuki-Judai123', '3rdbase101', 'sonicboom123456', 'Addie Marie Jones', 'Wildstar of Wildclan', 'MeguMegu3.0'and 'tac1060' for reviewing the previous chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

Butch and Cassidy turned around to see three kids standing at the entrance of the alley. They recognized the two in front, the girl however, they did not.

"Oh, its you." Cassidy said. "We don't have time for you messing with our plans. Go away."

"Yeah, this is a delicate operation to take back what is ours." Butch said, which resulted in him getting punched in his face by Cassidy.

Niels and Sander were confused. "Does that mean your Pokémon were stolen too?" Niels asked. If that was true, then this would be easier then they thought.

Both of them said a quick "No." It was a little too quick, but neither of them noticed.

"In that case why don't we settle things then. Once and for all." Niels took out his Pokéball, but then he realized that he hadn't healed neither his Combusken nor his Bagon at a Pokémon Center yet. They could be at a disadvantage.

"Alright, YES, our Pokémon got stolen. You happy now?" Cassidy said with both anger and sadness.

"I'm happy with that." Sander said with a smile.

"We know where they are. Right here in this building." Butch said while he pointed at the building behind him.

"For a second I thought you were guards or something." Cassidy noted. "But its just you three, so we don't actually have to fear anything from you." She said mockingly.

"Well, we should get going them. No need to waste time on you if we can't even have a fair battle." Niels said as he turned around and started walking away.

"Hold on!" Cassidy raise her voice a little. "Aren't you supposed to be the good guys in this story? Helping everyone you can and all that stuff?"

"Are you breaking the fourth wall?" Touko asked, while thinking why this discussion was taking place right now.

"What is the fourth wall?" Sander and Butch asked, they were getting a little confused.

"I'll explain later." Niels replied, while he thought with a smile to when he first heard that line on the T.V.

"So will you help us?" Cassidy asked once again.

"NO!" All three of them yelled at the same time and then they proceeded to leave.

"Well then don't come crawling back to us if you need help!" Butch responded.

_~=*Dewford Island Northern Beach, twenty-five minutes later*=~_

A large white sandy beach was laying in front of the three friends. If you wanted to relax, then this was the place to be. It was unusually quiet for the season, with only a few people actually being on the beach or in the water.

The waves weren't by any means big, but there were still a handful of surfers in the water, trying to tame them. The waves never actually got close to the shore, they broke about twenty meters away, this meant that swimmers were save to swim, wile the surfers could enjoy the waves without the risk of running over someone.

"With only so few people surfing, we got all the space we want." Niels said as a smile appeared on his face and he ran downhill to the changing rooms and a store to rent beach equipment.

While Sander and Touko were still changing clothes, Niels was already done. He was wearing blue and beige colored trunks and had rented a white and blue surfboard.

He called out his Pokémon. "Now you have fun in the water, remember keep an eye out for each other, and call for help when you need to, okay?" All Pokémon nodded and ran with Niels towards the water.

Sander now came out of his dressing room wearing brown colored trunks. When he saw that Niels was already in the water and started swimming towards the other surfers, he ran towards the water himself, calling out his Pokémon while he was at it.

Touko finally emerged from her own dressing room, she was wearing a yellow bikini. She called out her Pokémon and told them to head to the others. She then walked over towards the small shop and rented a surfboard herself which was pink in color.

Niels had made his way to where the waves started to form. "Hey kid!" One of the people who was also there said to him. "Only experienced surfers are allowed here. Why don't you go to the shore and learn how to surf first?" Most of the other surfers laughed.

"Why don't you shut up and show you are an 'experienced' surfer yourself before I rip your tongue out." He retaliated. It were not the words he said that made everyone stop laughing, but it was the way he said it. It felt like he meant every word he had just spoken. The only one who didn't back down was the guy who spoke to him in the first place.

"Is that a challenge?" He started laughing again. "You don't seriously think you can surf through that wave." He pointed at one coming their way right now.

Niels looked at it. "Are you even taking me serious? That is a pathetic excuse for a wave." Niels scanned around for a moment. "There is a good one coming in three minutes, why don't we wait for that?"

Back on the shore, Mudkip and Combusken got into a fight. Mostly because Mudkip was jealous of Combusken evolving and sprayed water in his face. Combusken, being weak to Water-type attacks, managed to kick Mudkip in the water with his Double Kick.

When Sander noticed something was going on, he swam back to them. He tried to stop them from fighting, but all he received was an angry glare from both of the Pokémon and he decided it was better not to separate the two right now, just for his own sake.

Touko on the other hand, had slowly started making her way towards the group of surfers. She didn't know that she probably wasn't welcome either.

The wave Niels had been waiting for was indeed big. A few of the surfers went pale when they saw it. It was one of the big waves of the day, standing at seven meters in height it was quickly approaching them.

"So which one of you wants to take on that thing?" Niels asked.

Everyone just looked at him. "You can't be serious, only Brawly takes on a wave like that. Look it is only getting bigger and bigger!" The guy closest to him said while he pointed at a person who was in the middle of the group. Niels now recognized him, he was the Gym Leader of Dewford Island, he was also glad that Brawly was one of the few people who didn't laugh at him earlier.

"Let's see if your skills are as good as you seem to think they are." Brawly said. He wasn't very confident, but at the very least had to applaud this kids bravery to take this wave on with him. When he looked at Niels again, he was surprised to not even see the slightest bit of fear.

When the wave finally arrived they let it take them to the top, from there they stood up on their surfboards and made their way through the tube that was being created as the wave was staring to break.

The tube was slowly getting smaller, Brawly was in the front and seemed to go slightly faster them Niels. This was probably due to Niels using a rented surfboard, while Brawly had his custom-made.

Suddenly he heard a voice behind him. "Hey, you really are a Slowpoke aren't you?" He turned his head around slightly to see Touko behind him, and she was closing in while the tube was closed behind her.

Niels was speechless for multiple reasons. "You can surf?" He asked.

"Yeah, but I don't think this is the right time to talk about that." Panic was merged in with her words as the tube got smaller and smaller. Brawly had made it to the end and now looked back. He was amazed to see Niels still standing, but he wasn't alone. A girl had gone after them and judging by the way they spoke, it seemed like they knew one another.

"You better hurry! It's closing!" He yelled at them, but to no avail. The wave started closing from his side now too, they were trapped.

"Ehm, where did the exit go?" Niels had never seen a wave do this.

"It closed? Now that's not something you see very often." Touko looked at the place where the exit once was. "Well, looks like we are trapped."

"That's just great isn't it... Either we go down now, or we will crash into the wave."

"It could be worse." Touko said as she maneuvered next to him.

Niels looked at her. "Yeah, I guess you're right." They had about ten seconds left, it was a long wave that was for sure. "Any last words?" he said jokingly.

"I'm kinda scared." She said.

With that, Niels wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his surfboard. Then they crashed in the wave.

* * *

"So where is he now huh?" The guy from earlier said to Brawly. The wave had almost died out. "So much for him being better then you."

"For your information, he never said he was better then me. You didn't even take on the wave." Brawly replied. This made the guy shut up again as they waited to see when they would show up.

Suddenly two surfboards arrived to the surface, almost instantly followed by Niels and Touko. Niels had let go of Touko when they swam up to the surface, but he helped her get on her surfboard before climbing on his own.

"That was awesome." He said.

"If you would have just gone out of the way, then I wouldn't be drenched in seawater right now." She proceeded to shove water towards him. He was completely unaware that she would do that and fell off of his surfboard the moment the water hit him.

She laughed, but stopped when she saw two surfers coming their way.

"See, I told you you couldn't do it." The first one said. Niels felt the urge to teach this guy a lesson, breaking a few of his bones didn't seem like a bad option.

Touko noticed however and swam towards him, put her hand on his shoulder and said one word "Relax".

"And who is this, your 'girlfriend'? She is not even that hot, and considering she is with you, I'd say she is dumb too." He said, not knowing the mistake he just made.

Touko got red, and before she knew it, had let gone of his shoulder, And said: "Get him."

The eyes of Niels were red, he launched forward to the guy, grabbed him and swam to the depths of the sea.

Brawly had to react fast. He dived off of his surfboard and swam after them. Once he got to them, amazed by the speed of which Niels swam while pushing the guy, he pulled them away from each other and took them back up.

The guy immediately took off on his surfboard and swam back to shore where Sander and the Pokémon were playing together, having no idea of what just happened.

Brawly meanwhile had grabbed Niels firmly by the shoulders and tried to calm him down. Touko was crying, it was her fault, she shouldn't have let go but she did.

"Hey, it isn't your fault. I have seen someone like him before, and considering what was going on, I don't blame you." Brawly said with a reassuring smile.

"B-but I s-shouldn't have let-t h-him go." She buried her face in her hands.

"Come, let's get to shore." Brawly said, seeing as Niels had calmed down a little by now and his eyes had returned to normal, they had to get to shore before he realized what he had just done.

* * *

Sander watched as three figures made their way towards him. But his expression went from happy to grim when he saw the looks on their faces.

The first thing Niels did when they got back was walk away. Sander wanted to call him back but when he saw Touko and Brawly, he thought it was better to stay here.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I think we should go to my house." Brawly said.

_~=*Brawly's House, twenty minutes later*=~_

"And that's the whole story." Brawly said. He had just explained everything. Touko had stopped crying but she upset over the whole situation. "So why are you here? We haven't seen tourists a lot lately."

"Wait, wait, wait. He defended her?" Sander asked.

"In a way, you could say that, yes. Why?" Brawly was confused at this question.

Sander thought about it for a moment. "He has never defended anyone in the last four years. Pokémon are a different story, he did that a lot. But people? No." Sander paused for a moment, maybe the real Niels was coming back. "You said you have seen someone like him before?"

Brawly remembered it like yesterday. "Yeah, she was trying to kill a guy after... well, lets not dig too deep into that. Anyway, I tried to reason with her, but it seemed like there was nobody human in there anymore, like it was just a shell driven by hate."

Sander recognized this. "Then what?"

"The police came and took her away... She would have been behind bars for about a year now, had she not committed suicide after a month." Brawly said. "Someone like that should not be in prison. They can't help it, it's in their blood."

Sander seemed to ponder on that for a moment. "I don't think he'll ever go with the police. He'd rather die." He said. "Had she done it before?"

"Kill someone? No... there was no evidence for it at least. But would it matter?"

"You wanted to know why we were here, right?" Sander said. "We are here to challenge you. But I guess that will have to wait."

Brawly laughed a little. "Well, first thing we will do tomorrow then."

**A/N: Well there we go, a rather short chapter, but the next one will be longer!**

**B/C will make another appearance soon. And the thieves/kidnappers will make one too. **

**This is the last chapter for a while that will focus mostly on Niels (excluding the GymBattle). Switching more to Sander and Touko now just to keep things interesting.**

**Answer my question to you at the top of the page if you haven't already (if you submitted an OC.) ;)**

**Review Please!**


	15. VS Brawly!

**A/N: This took far too long to write. Though I can't say I have a writers block since I come up with ideas all the time, but I can't implement them until far later.**

**As always I want to thank: 'Yuki-Judai123', 'That's the way I roll', 'Burning Moon of the Sky', 'MeguMegu3.0', 'Cerridwen-Maiden', 'Wildstar of Wildclan', ''Addie Marie Jones' and 'tac1060' for reviewing.**

**Also if you put my story on story alert, it is nice to leave at least one review. That's not much to ask for is it? Ans you know exactly who you are. ;)**

**AND ALSO IF YOU SUBMITTED AN OC BUT NOT A REVIEW I WILL NOT LOOK AT IT. SO DON'T COME WITH ADDITIONS EITHER! You are pissing me off and you will get blocked the next time you fail to understand my rules.**

**Enjoy.**

Dewford Island was wading in the light of morning sun. A day had passed since the events that happened last time. Touko and Sander stayed at Brawly's house for the night, which neither of them seemed to mind when he had offered it to them.

And now, they were standing on a flat, rock-made battlefield surrounded by water. Sander was standing on one side, while Touko was sitting on the side, just as she did last time there was a Gymbattle.

Someone however was missing. Niels had not returned last night, and although Sander and Touko wanted to go and look for him, Brawly advised against this.

Sander was getting more and more nervous by the second. For one, he had no idea what Niels could have done in the state he was in. Secondly, this time he was facing a Gymleader alone, without his friend's moral support. Yeah there was Touko, but he didn't exactly feel like she would cheer _him_ on that much.

"I hope you are ready to begin?" Brawly asked, who was getting a little impatient seeing as Sander obviously wanted to do something else right now. But that was his own fault. Still, if Sander would just get a move on, then he could go surfing again. He had a Pokéball in his hand, throwing it up in the air and then catching it.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Sander replied. This was the most obvious lie he had ever told, but Brawly didn't seem to care. But aside from that, he had no idea which type of Pokémon Brawly was specialized in. And he didn't have much choice in his own Pokémon as he only had his Poochyena and Mudkip.

"Oh will you two just start battling already" A familiar voice said.

Sander turned around, and Touko looked at the entrance to the Gym. "You're back?" Sander kept looking at Niels. He looked exhausted, like he had not slept last night.

"Like I would miss the Gymbattle of my best friend." Niels looked genuinely offended. "Just go ahead and beat him." Niels walked over to Touko, but he didn't sit beside her, he just wanted to watch the match and not talk.

Touko noticed and didn't want to start arguing or anything like that. "Its a two-on-two battle, Sander can substitute his Pokémon at any time, Brawly can only do so after a Pokémon had been defeated." She just said. She didn't get a response from Niels, but his posture changed slightly and that was satisfying enough for her.

* * *

"Alright then, give it your best shot Brawly!" Sander said as he took out his first Pokéball.

"So confident." Brawly stopped playing with his Pokéball. "Go Machop!"

"Go Poochyena!"

Machop was a turtle-like bipedal creature that had a gray skin, with three brown ridges on top of its head. He had large red eyes, three thin rib-like stripes on the sides of its chest, and a small tail. Its feet appeared to lack toes.

Poochyena was ready to fight. This was his first Gymbattle and he wanted to give it all he had.

Sander has meanwhile reached for his Pokédex. "Machop, the Superpower Pokémon. Machop have muscles that never tire no matter how much they exercise. Machop have enough strength to throw 100 average sized adults."

"Wait, how the hell am I supposed to beat that?" Sander was starting to panic.

"Machop, use your Cross Chop!" Brawly commanded. Almost immediately, Machop's fists glowed white and he held them in front of him, charging towards Poochyena.

"Poochyena, jump out of the way and then Bite him!" Sander ordered.

Poochyena jumped out of the way, but not far enough as Machop managed to hit one of Poochyena's paws. In turn, it turned around and headed for Machop, biting him in its head.

"Machop, use your Karate Chop to get him off of you!" One of Machop's hands glowed white and hit Poochyena in his face which resulted in him being smashed into the ground.

* * *

"You think he can win this?" Touko asked after seeing the damage Machop had just inflicted.

"He probably can, but he won't. He is being reckless, and Poochyena is not the right Pokémon to use here." Niels answered. "I'm surprised he started with his weakest Pokémon though, that's unlike him. He always valued strength over strategy and Mudkip is his strongest Pokémon."

* * *

Poochyena slowly rose back to its feet. "Come on Poochyena, hang in there." Sander said. "Now use a Tackle!"

"You can not win this with those weak attacks. Machop finish this with another Cross Chop."

At the same time as Poochyena started moving towards Machop, Machop powered up his arms again. When the two collided, smoke rose up from the ground, temporarily clouding the outcome.

"Poochyena is unable to battle, Machop wins." A referee stated.

Sander called back his Poochyena. Machop had so far not shown any signs of fatigue. Sander had all the reason to be worried now, he was not going to win this. One glance towards Niels and Touko confirmed that which he already knew, but he wasn't going down without a fight.

"Go, Mudkip!" Sander threw his second and final Pokéball forward, revealing his mud fish Pokémon. "Let's start this off with a Water Gun!"

"Machop, let's make this quick, use you Cross Chop, followed by a Karate Chop!" Brawly commanded.

Machop ran straight through the Water Gun that was coming out of Mudkip's mouth. Before both Sander and Mudkip knew it, he had reached Mudkip and hit it with both of his attacks.

"Use you Mud Slap!" Mudkip turned its back towards Machop and started kicking dirt toward him. Machop quickly shielded himself from the attack by putting his arms in front of his face. The arms however showed some bruises due to the sheer amount of mud being kicked towards him.

"Machop! Break through it with a Low Kick!" Brawly ordered.

Machop quickly shoved one of its feet forward and hit Mudkip with it, who fell to the ground.

"Come on Mudkip, you can get him." Mudkip was slowly rising back to its feet. "Water Gun!" Mudkip opened its mouth once again to release a powerful stream of water, this time, Machop wasn't prepared and got the full hit from point-blank range.

When Machop got back up, it was clear he was at the end of his strength, but he was willing to continue further.

"One more Cross Chop and this is over!" Brawly said, sending Machop forward.

"Counter with a Tackle attack." Sander commanded, resulting in a face-palm by both Touko and Niels. If it didn't work last time, then it would not work now either.

The two Pokémon slammed into each other, resulting in a loud 'bang'. When the smoke settled, both Pokémon were knocked out.

"Machop and Mudkip are unable to battle, Brawly wins!" The referee stated.

"What?" Sander could not believe he had just lost, he had trained his Pokémon well enough, and he had won against Roxanne. But he didn't just lose, he never even stood a chance. Brawly had the upper hand right from the start.

"Your battle-style is reckless. You focus too much on offense rather then defense." Brawly sighed. "I was hoping for a better match then this, I didn't even need to use my second Pokémon." He looked at Niels. "I guess you want to go next?"

Niels smiled. "No thanks, I'd rather train a little more before I take you on. Seeing as how Sander lost I highly doubt I could win."

Brawly nodded in approval. "I must warn you though, leave the island as fast as you can. The police will be looking for you."

Niels felt the need to say something Brawly would probably not like, but he managed to suppress it. "I'll keep an eye out."

_~=*Dewford Town, one hour later*=~_

"So, where are we going now then?" Touko asked. They had been walking around for the past hour, and none of them was feeling like training.

Dewford Island still wasn't save, but now there were two reasons for it. Sander had suggested to go to the police to notify them of the building Butch and Cassidy had stood in front of, but he was realized that he would have to go in alone since Niels couldn't go in, and Touko's appearance was probably described too. Aside from that Touko was probably wanted anyway because of her parents.

"I have no idea." Sander said. They were getting bored, and with no activities going on in Dewford because most tourist locations had closed down for the time being.

They passed a children's playground, which was surprisingly empty. "Guess the people here think that they could switch from Pokémon to kids soon." Touko said.

"This place is like a graveyard." Sander said. "There is nothing interesting going on at all."

As if on cue, the ground started shaking a little. And it got worse the longer it went on. The few people on the streets started running to their houses or another safer location.

The trio just stood there. "An earthquake?" Niels asked.

It wasn't an earthquake. Slowly a group of Pokémon appeared, they were stampeding across the street. The Pokémon were white colored with a few black spots on them and there were many.

"I think we should get out of the way!" Touko screamed.

The three started running towards the nearest alley and waited until the horde of Pokémon got past them. The thunderous sound created by the stampede rang in their ears long after they had passed.

"What was that all about?" Sander asked as he looked at the tail of the horde.

"Aron, the Iron Armor Pokémon. Aron has an impressive defense power and eats iron ore in order to build up the metal in its body. " A Pokédex instantly said.

"That doesn't say why they are just running through town." Sander sharply noted.

"I do not have any data regarding recent happenings with Aron on Dewford Island." The Pokédex answered. "Aron are not known to perform such behavior, as such I cannot be of any more assistance."

Touko giggled a little when she saw Sander's face after what he had just heard. "They looked kinda cute, maybe I should catch one." She said.

"You want to catch a Pokémon because it is 'kinda cute'?" Sander said while he looked at her as if she wasn't serious.

"Why, what's wrong with that?" Touko replied not knowing why he had a problem with that.

"Nothing." They started walking back on the street quietly, but Niels swore he heard Sander mutter "Girls..."

They still didn't know where to go, until suddenly a man in his early twenties approached them with an eager look on his face.

He had long brown colored hair that reached to his neck and had brown eyes. He wore a long sleeved silk shirt which was blue and purple in color. Underneath it he had a multicolored loose shirt in the colors; red, orange, yellow, white and blue. He wore a loose pair of beige pants, and to finish he also had dark brown boots.

He spoke to them. "Hey, did you see a large group of Aron coming by here?"

"Yeah, they went in that direction." Niels answered as he pointed down the street where slowly people started walking again.

He quickly became a little bit sad. "I am never going to catch up to them." He said with sadness throughout his voice.

"Why would you want to follow them anyway?" Touko asked. "They are just a bunch of Pokémon."

"I thought you said they were 'cute' just a minute ago." Sander came back at her sharply. But the man in front of them was now staring at Touko.

"Just a bunch of Pokémon?" He said in disbelief. "I could solve one of the great mysteries of Dewford Island if I know why these Aron have suddenly started to rampage through own every single day."

"Are you a researcher then?" Sander asked.

The man gave them a smile. "Amongst other things, yes. I am also a trainer and a traveler. There is no place in the world I have not been!"

"He's a little bit full of himself isn't he?" Niels whispered to Touko who immediately burst out into giggles, this resulted into the man looking at them, slightly offended.

"Are you mocking me?" He asked, which shut both Niels and Touko up as they looked down in embarrassment. "Anyway, if you could help me find out where these Aron have gone, I will help you get off of this island in my boat."

"Who said we needed to get off of this island?" Sander was wondering how he knew they had to leave one day, but he received a smack on the head from Niels.

"Listen, we need to go to Slateport at some point." When he saw Sander was going to protest he continued: "I know we need those badges, but I'm sure we will get them soon."

Sander thought about this for a moment. Niels was usually right about predicting this kind of things, but he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy about the whole situation. "Alright, fine. We will help you find your Aron, and we get a boat-ride to Slateport. Deal?"

"Deal." The man look around for a moment. "My name is Eiji, and you?"

"I'm Sander, and these two are Niels and Touko." He said as he pointed at the two next to him respectively.

The man now known as Eiji turned around. "You said they headed that way right? Well then there is no time to lose!" He wanted to take a step forward but was quickly stopped by a police-car with an officer Jenny in it.

"You three, have you seen this kid?" She held out a hand-drawn picture of Niels. Both Sander and Touko's hearts stopped for a second, but when they looked at each other they saw that Niels had already magically disappeared and they almost sighed in relief.

Eiji however was still looking at the picture. "No, can't say I have. What has he done?"

Officer Jenny sighed. "He attempted to kill a local, though he probably deserved it we can't let things like this go unpunished. But thanks anyway." She drove off to a few people nearby and asked them the same.

Eiji turned around to Touko and Sander. "You have some explaining to do."

**I promise the next chapter will be long and won't take 6 days before it finishes. ;)**

**If you have questions about certain things then feel free to ask, I will only answer it if I think it is worth answering. Because some things will get explained later on anyway.**

**Review please.**


	16. Aqua Blue!

**A/N: First of all I want to say I am very sorry for not updating in the last week. I have been busy and was rather lazy too :D**

**Saw Jeff Dunham's new show 'Identity Crisis' last Wednesday live, that was amazing, doubt I ever laughed as much as I did there.**

**I want to thank: 'Cerridwen-Maiden', 'Juki-Judai123', 'MeguMegu3.0', 'That's the way I roll', '3rdbase101' and 'Addie Marie Jones' for reviewing the last chapter! (Just in case anyone is wondering, I present the names in order of reviewing)**

**Here is the next chapter: Enjoy! **

**(Edit1: Minor grammar improvement, Other 'secret' thing)  
**

"You have some explaining to do." Eiji said while he looked at the two teens in front of him.

"I don't see why we should, you asked for our help. Either you take it or leave on your own." Sander replied.

Touko was impressed, Sander was using words in a way she never thought he could do. Then again, it was probably just temporarily.

Eiji seemed to think about the answer for a moment. "Fine... Guess I shouldn't be asking questions." He looked around for a bit. "Where has he gone?"

"I don't know." Touko said before she looked back at Sander. For some reason he had an odd looking smile on his face. "What?" She asked.

"I know where he is." He simply said.

"Well spit it out then!" Touko started getting annoyed. _'Why can't he just say it and be done with it.'_

Sander took out the PokéNav they had gotten earlier and started looking through it. "You see, when I was looking through the features of this thing, I noticed something interesting. There is a locator hidden inside, so you can see where the people in your 'Friends List' are at all times." He looked to his right, but only a building was there. "He should be right here."

Touko looked at the building, there was no entrance on this side. "I think your wrong."

Sander looked around for a bit. "Maybe this thing doesn't work properly." He started fiddling around with the settings until he felt something hard hit him on the head. "AH! What was that."

Eiji looked down to the ground. "It's a rock..." He looked up. "Where did that come fr... Ooooh. He's up there."

"What?" Touko said in disbelief as she looked up. "How the hell did he get up there so fast?"

"Can you hold this for me?" Sander held his PokéNav in front of Touko.

She looked at the device. "Um, sure?" Touko was wondering what he was going to do. To her amazement, Sander ran up to the building and started climbing it rather quickly. All Touko and Eiji did was watch with their mouths wide open.

"Hey, I can see the smoke-clouds the Aron leave behind from up here, maybe you should send out Taillow to follow them." Niels said to Touko when he was finally showing himself again.

Touko was still wondering how the two of them got up there so fast, but decided that Niels was probably right. "Go Taillow!" The tiny blue swallow got out of its Pokéball and started flying in circles above the heads of Touko and Eiji. "Taillow, can you follow the Aron from the sky and tell us where they are going?"

"Taillow!" It nodded its head and flew off in the direction they had last seen the Aron.

"We'll follow it from the rooftops, you keep an eye on him from the ground, got it?" Niels said.

Eiji stuck up his thumb, trying not to attract the attention from people nearby. "Shall we go then?" He asked Touko.

Touko seeing as how the two boys had already left, nodded. "Let's go."

_~=*North-West of Dewford Town, twenty minutes later*=~_

Taillow was flying back to her master when suddenly a beam of light flew past her. She looked at the direction from which it came, suddenly more beams flew towards her. She tried to dodge them and started flying lower, just over the treetops, so that they couldn't get a proper lock on her.

Taillow saw the four walking in the distance and started making her way slowly and carefully towards them making sure that the beams wouldn't start firing again.

* * *

"You really have to tell me how you climbed up so fast." Ever since Touko had seen Sander climb up, she wanted to know the secret of the two.

Sander had said that she would just laugh at them and Niels agreed with that. However Touko persisted and slowly but surely Niels started thinking that maybe it wasn't going to be so bad to tell her after all, this was certainly worse.

Eiji meanwhile had tried to move slightly away from the group, trying to concentrate on the skies, looking for Taillow. He would have sent out his own Flying-type Pokémon, were it not in the Pokémon Center.

After a few more moments of looking up at the sky, he saw the tiny blue bird flying towards them. "Hey guys, Taillow is back." He said.

Touko stopped asking and looked at her Pokémon. "So did you find them?"

Taillow was panting a little but nodded her head.

"Must have been a long flight for you, you can sit on my shoulder while guiding us if you want." Taillow called out her name happily as she flew to Touko's shoulder and sat on it, then she pointed her head towards the place she had last seen the Aron.

They walked on for a few minutes in silence before Touko started asking Niels and Sander the same question again. "Seriously though, how did you do it?"

"You are not going to shut up are you?" Sander, who was clearly annoyed, asked her.

Touko smiled. "Of course not, what fun would that be."

Eiji stopped, he had noticed something far away, but he wasn't sure of what (or who) it was.

"What's wrong?" Sander asked.

"I don't know, I have a weird feeling about this." He replied as he looked around again.

A flock of Wingull flew over them. Suddenly, many white flashes of light headed towards the Wingull, some of them managed to dodge the first few but after a while all of them had gotten hit and fell down to the ground.

"What the..." Niels said as he looked at the Wingull that laid on the ground before them. "What happened to them?"

Voices could be heard from afar, heading towards the group.

"I think we should hide." Eiji said. The voices were getting louder, and if they were listening closely they could probably make out what they were saying, but they didn't have time for that.

"Yeah, I think you are right." Touko said as she looked for a hiding location. "But where?" Panic made its way into her voice.

Niels looked up. "In the trees, come on!"

Eiji managed to climb up in the tree relatively easy and so did Niels. Touko got pulled up by both of them, but someone was missing. "Hang on a second, where is Sander?" Eiji asked.

"I'm right here!" He said as he pulled himself up to a branch on the other side of the tree trunk.

"What took you so long?" Niels had an idea, but he doubted Touko and Eiji would like it.

"Nothing." He replied, making Niels believe more that Sander did what he thought he did.

"Quiet!" Touko whispered to the two when the voices were almost right below them.

A group of four people, all dressed almost exactly alike, headed towards the fallen Wingull. All were wearing pirate like outfits, mostly consisting of the color blue aside from their shirts which were striped black and white.

"This is all too easy." The first one, a pale-skinned man with black hair said with a bored voice. He readied a Pokéball and threw it at the Wingull closest to him.

"I know right? But I guess it means less work for us." The second, a girl with long flowing orange-colored hair said.

The third, a bald man, threw three Pokéballs to the group on the ground. "Oh, just deal with it you lazy bitch." (That resulted in a quick "HEY!" from the girl.) "I should even notify the boss of your behavior, you are sleeping on the job half of the time."

"The boss is lazy too, we would probably get the punishment for disturbing him." The first said.

"Good point." Replied the third who now looked at the fourth grunt, he had short blond hair, who had said nothing the entire time and was just throwing Pokéballs around. "What are you looking at?" He said with anger, startling all three.

After another minute they were finished and headed off aside from the girl. "I'm going to have a quick look around, check if we catched 'em all."

"Don't get spotted by anyone, we will all get in trouble if you do."

"Oh, come on, when have I ever gotten into trouble?"

The first looked at her again. "Do you want to get me started?"

The girl looked down in embarrassment hiding a blush. The first man grinned and the three of them took off, leaving the girl behind who started looking in the bushes.

* * *

"Team Aqua, so are they after all the Pokémon disappearing?" Sander asked.

"Could be, but I wonder if they have to do something with the Aron too?" Eiji replied while he asked another question.

Niels looked down to the girl. "Only one way to find out." He was about to jump but Touko stopped him.

"Try to control yourself alright?" She said not wanting another experience like with Rick, or the surfer.

He didn't respond and jumped down towards the girl, tackling her. She shrieked for a moment but was quickly shut up by a hand over her mouth. She stopped struggling almost instantly, knowing there was no way she could get out of this.

When she stopped, she was laying with her chest on the ground and her arms behind her back, both were being firmly held by Niels who had let gone of her mouth hoping she was not going to call for help.

"You did that before didn't you?" Touko asked while she jumped down after seeing how smoothly it went.

"Yeah, on me. Hurt a lot the first few times he tried it." Sander said, remembering the time Niels had almost dislocated his left arm. "I never managed to do it though..."

"So who is going to ask questions?" Niels asked getting a little impatient. She had stopped struggling, but was still trying to get her arms out of his grip.

"I'll do it." Eiji sat down in front of the girl. "So, what is Team Aqua doing here?"

The girl looked at him. "You don't think getting answers out of me that easily do you? Every answer has a price." She was almost saying it like she was toying with them.

"Is she serious?" Niels asked. "You do realize I can break a finger or two if I have to?"

She tried looking around to see who was holding her, but she could not turn her face far enough. "Can you just let me go? This is really uncomfortable."

Niels loosened his grip a little but didn't let her go, and Eiji asked the question again. "What is Team Aqua doing here?"

"Okay, if you want me to answer that then at least let me sit down like a normal person. My hair is getting messed up too."

Niels looked at the three, they nodded, knowing that if she tried to run they could probably catch up to her. So he let go and stood up taking a few steps backwards to the group. "Better?" He was not being nice and she could hear it in his voice.

"Thanks." She said as she positioned herself a little more comfortable. "We're here to collect Pokémon so we can use them for our goal."

"Goal?" Eiji asked confused.

The girl's mouth fell open in disbelief. How could someone in Hoenn not know the plans of Team Aqua. "You don't... know?"

"He's not from around here." Touko said.

Eiji was confused that not knowing what Team Aqua did was weird. But nobody started explaining which made him a little angry. "Well then can someone explain their goal?" He said.

"They want to expand the seas, right?" Sander asked not being entirely sure if he was right.

"That's right!" The girl said ecclesiastically. "Wouldn't it be awesome if everywhere you looked there was nothing but a beautiful ocean."

Her eyes were shining just thinking about it, leaving the four staring at her.

"Where is your base, hideout or whatever you want to call it? And how many members of Team Aqua are there?" Eiji continued with asking questions.

She looked at him. "Didn't I just say every answer has a price?"

"Oh for crying out loud..." Niels said while he looked at Sander and Touko. "I promise to go easy on her, alright?"

"NO!" Both yelled at him making him sulk in a corner. Which was quite an achievement since there were no corners here to begin with.

"We should get some law enforcement here, with their help we can probably take all of them on." Eiji stated.

They all knew they weren't able to take on an entire Aqua base if that proved to be necessary, which it would, so all of them have had the idea on their mind.

"Well... I am not the one who is going to get them." Niels said. "Me and the cops don't cooperate very well together." He added with a chuckle.

"Wait! You're getting the police here?" The girl asked with slight panic in her voice.

"Yeah, I think all members of Team Aqua can look at a pretty solid time in jail." Touko said with a semi-evil grin on her face which startled both Niels and Eiji. Sander didn't notice.

"NO, I'll do anything not to go back there."

"And why is that?" Touko wondered.

She shuddered. "Last time I was there, it was horrible. They said I participated in an armed robbery, and the surveillance tape showed someone who just looked a lot like me, but the jury had already decided." She paused for a moment. "Two grueling months I was in there, until Team Aqua came and busted out one of their high-ranking female members. They said I could come with them, so I did." A tear rolled across one of her cheeks as she looked down. "They made me feel safe, and after one year I didn't know any better. Some of them can be jerks, but they are the closest things to friends and family I have left." She broke down when all suppressed images from those times started coming back to her.

"She's obviously lying!" Sander said, not wanting to waste any time listening to this nonsense.

"SHUT UP AND GET THE COPS ALREADY!" Touko burst out, after which she held her hands in front of her mouth as if she didn't want to say it that harsh to him, he had a point after all.

He left while mumbling to himself sentences that only Niels could hear.

Eiji was staring at the girl. "You know, he has a point. How do we know if you are not lying?"

"You don't, its alwa-" She stopped talking when she felt a hand on one of her own.

"Look me in the eyes, and tell me you're not lying." Niels said.

Although his eyes were stern, his hand felt very comforting as if she could just say it all and be done with it. "I'm not lying." She said and looked back down to the ground.

He stood up and pulled her up too. "She's telling the truth." The girl looked at him and couldn't believe it, after all this time there was someone who actually thought she was innocent.

Eiji looked surprised. "How do you know so sure?"

Niels cursed himself for saying it like that. "I can feel the emotions of people when I touch them, when you lie there is something different from when you tell the truth."

"Interesting. Can I research it at some point?"

"No, there is some things connected that you don't want to know."

Eiji got the point and didn't persist with asking.

"So then... what do we do with her?" Touko asked, because the girl was still part of Team Aqua, and they still had to deal with those on this island.

"We still need information." Eiji said.

The girl looked at the three and started giving details on the Aqua base.

_~=*Unknown location in Hoenn, same time*=~_

A door slid open and someone walked through it. The person was female, and she looked around the room, not recognizing it. Then again, this base was only newly formed, and not everyone got to speak to the boss.

"You have failed to retrieve your objective." A harsh sounding male voice said. It was a man who was sitting behind a desk and although the room was only barely lit, she could still see that this was the boss.

"We-" She wanted to explain things but she got cut off by the man.

"I don't want to hear your excuses, I have read your report." The man leaned backwards in his chair. "How could you get beaten by a bunch of beginners?"

"They-" She tried answering the question but got cut off again, this was getting very irritating.

"Yes they got reinforcements as it stood in your report, but that didn't happen until later." The man opened a drawer of his desk and pulled out a few pieces of paper. "You know that people who are interfering with our plans should be dealt with! I don't care if you would have killed them or just knocked them out, why did you not even try?" He started losing his temper.

The girl shivered. "A-as I wrote in my report, the Psychic attack used to keep them in their place while a Hyper Beam shot towards them got canceled out at the last moment." She said. "I don't know how they did it, although one of us could have done it."

"Are you implying we have a traitor amongst us?" He asked while his hand was slowly reaching for something.

"N-no, although it could be a possibility. But in my report I also wrote about a boy who-"

"If the boy did it then there can only be three explanations!" He said angrily. "One: he is a Psychic, and his description doesn't fit any of the known ones, which would make it highly unlikely. Two: He's an Aura user, however there was nothing in your report that led me to believe such a thing, the lack of a blue flame being one of them. Three: He's a so-called 'Dark-Aura user', for the lack of a better name we will just call it that." He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. "Fortunately those have gone mostly extinct, and the ones that still live are in solitude on one of the Sevii Islands where they can just kill each other.

The man used his other hand to speak through an intercom. "You know who to get." He said, almost whispering it, and with that he focused his attention back to the girl. "Do you remember what we do to people who are either a traitor or fail their task."

She knew the answer, but couldn't say the words, she just nodded slightly still dazed by what her Boss had just said. His explanations were good.

The door slid open once again to reveal a young man this time. "Hey Boss, Luxandra." He said with a smile that quickly disappeared when he didn't get a reply. "What's going on?"

The Boss changed the way he sat a little. "You failed to retrieve your objective." He said, and while he did that the young man who just walked in turned pale. "And you are a traitor." He added.

The man let the words sink in for a moment. "Wait, NO, I-" He tried to say but before he could say another word a shot was fired from a pistol that the Boss had been holding for a while. The young man collapsed on the floor and didn't move anymore while blood was slowly flowing out of his chest.

Luxandra watched in horror at what happened. She tried to run away, but her legs wouldn't move.

"Next time, that will be you." He pointed his hand to the door. "Now leave."

She walked away slowly, being careful not to step on the body. She whispered a quick "I'm sorry." to it, and walked through the door.

The last thing she remembered that day were the words from her Boss saying: "Mightyena, dinner time." Before the door closed behind her.

**A/N: How's that for an ending ;) it just shows how far Magma (Yes, it's Magma) will go to get the job done.**

**I hope that's not enough to make an M rating, though I have an idea that in the end I will have to change it to that anyway, but for now let's just keep it at T.**

**The girl will be gone in the next chapter (Which will be filled with battles by the way.) Though she will make a reappearance. But if that's such a good thing...**

**Longest chapter so far, hope you liked it.**

**I promise the next one won't take as long write.**

**Review Please.**


	17. Assault on Aqua Base!

**A/N: Only 3 reviews on the last chapter? Disappointed D: (Also very sorry about another late update, as long as I'm still writing eh?) Want to thank: 'Yuki-Judai123', '3rdbase101' and 'Addie Marie Jones' for reviewing.**

**Personally I am getting really sick of seeing people write the following pairings: Ash/Misty, May/Drew, Gary/Leaf, Lyra/Silver and Touko/N. Is that really the ONLY thing people can write about? (Okay, it's not that bad, yet...) But come on, you can at least do some originality when it comes to shipping.**

**Speaking of which, I want you to come up with names for all 'possible' pairings in my story. Be creative ;)**

**Anyway, enough talk. Enjoy!**

_'He was walking on a street. The place looked familiar somehow, he had flown on a Flying-type Pokémon here once when he was just a little kid. Wait, how did he get here anyway? He just took a quick nap under a tree while waiting for Sander to get back. _

_Another dream, but while the last dreams looked like they shared some similarities, this one was completely different. He had a headache too, so that was just great. He felt himself turn left into another, quieter street. He had found the place he had wanted to go, but before he could walk towards it, an all too familiar person stopped him._

"_Hey Niels!" The man said. "How have you been? I've been really well being dead, since you murdered me!" It seemed like he was happy to see Niels, but that couldn't be._

_The dream Niels stared at him, unable to think like a normal person for a moment. When he got past the shock of seeing someone who was supposed to be dead, alive again, he reached for something in one of his pockets. "Then tell me why I shouldn't kill you again right now?" He said as he pointed a gun at the man's forehead while his own headache was increasing by the minute._

_The man laughed. "Because I can offer you, what you've always wanted."'_

Combusken had been pecking his trainer's head for the last ten seconds or so. He was hungry and wanted to eat. To Touko's amusement, the expression on Niels's face turned from normal to very uncomfortable.

"What the hell was that for?" Niels yelled at the exact same time as he woke up, startling both of them.

Combusken took a step back but had a smirk on his face. His mission had succeeded so far, now he just had to get some food. He threw Niels's backpack towards him, only his good reflexes saved him from getting an ever bigger headache. "Com." Combusken pointed to the backpack and then to his stomach.

"If you are strong enough to throw my backpack towards me, why cant you open it and feed yourself then?" Niels asked annoyed while he opened his backpack and take out some Pokémon food. He looked at Touko. "And why are you smiling?"

"Just watching the two of you fight. You and your Pokémon are lazy." She focused back on the book she was reading.

Niels and Combusken felt insulted. "My Pokémon and me are not lazy!"

Touko looked at him again with a smile. "Really? Combusken won't get his own food, Zigzagoon has been sleeping on your lap ever since you called him out of his Pokéball and Bagon has done nothing but sitting on the edge of that pond over there and looking up at the sky."

"But-" Niels protested. He wanted to ask what Touko's Pokémon had been doing all this time then.

Touko however had anticipated this and cut him off. "My Treecko has been training with Taillow the entire time." She said. "So as you can see, you are lazy, and so are your Pokémon for that matter." She smiled at her victory and focused on her book again.

He kept looking at her for a few more seconds before he was being brought back to the real world by a kick from Combusken who was pointing at the bag of food in his hand.

While opening up the bag, he heard Touko talk again. "You know, you talk in your sleep." She said.

After bashing the back of his head against the tree he was sitting against he asked: "And?"

She simply shrugged. "Just saying."

He thought about it for a moment and then went back to opening the bag and giving Combusken his food. However Combusken had become so impatient that he had just swallowed both the food and the bag it was in.

"I hope you'll get sick from that." Niels said with a disapproving look.

"So you want to tell me how you two can climb up buildings so fast?" Touko asked after a moments silence which was only interrupted by Combuskens burping.

"Okay," He sighed "There is this video game in which the main character climbs up against buildings with ease, so we tried to do the same thing. It went rather easily actually, the problems began when we started jumping down into haystacks. Sander broke a leg, and I was just lucky enough not to have that happen to me although the other injuries weren't fun. Now you know, and you can laugh." Niels explained.

Touko was quiet for a moment and then wanted to say something but Eiji, who had escorted the girl from earlier away, had just come back. "I thought they would have been here by now." He said, looking around to see any sign of Sander or the entire police force.

As if on cue, a group of people started approaching them.

"Well, looks like I have to get back in the tree." Niels said, recalling his Pokémon. "See you in a minute." He climbed up into the tree had had been sitting against almost the entire time.

The group of people consisted of Sander and about fourteen police officers, which included two Officer Jenny's.

"Alright, here we are." Sander said, he looked really eager to get into a big battle.

"So which way towards their base of operation?" The Jenny at the front asked.

Eiji pointed in a direction. "That way. You are looking at about a dozen members of Team Aqua. Apparently they have many stolen Pokémon on site."

"Alright team, let's get in there and do this smoothly." She said before turning back to the trio. "You should stay out of this, now it's official police business and we don't need civilians getting in the way or get hurt."

Sander wanted to complain but was quickly shut up by Eiji's hand on his shoulder. They should not get in trouble for something as stupid as this.

Most of the officers had summoned their Growlithes, the Puppy Pokémon used by police all around the globe, and were heading under the command of the second Jenny in the direction of the base.

After they had left Sander said: "Well that sucks."

"Oh don't worry, they'll probably be back. They don't have the password to get inside when the building goes on lockdown." Eiji said. "And I think it's safe to assume it will when the Aquas see an entire squad of police officers, trying to arrest them, show up."

"You know what I just thought of?" Niels said when he jumped down. "If the stolen Pokémon are here, where did Butch and Cassidy break in?"

* * *

"I told you this wasn't the right place!" Cassidy smacked Butch on his head even though they were handcuffed.

"How was I supposed to know that this was a police station?" He yelled back angrily.

* * *

Niels, Touko and Sander thought about it, but decided it didn't really matter in the end and whatever happened to them would not affect them. Eiji didn't know who they were, so he didn't care all that much anyway.

They started hearing screams of people. "Guess they started the battle." Niels said.

"Should we go and have a look?" Sander suggested with a shimmer of hope in his voice. If the rest of them agreed then maybe he would get to fight after all.

"Can't hurt to take a quick peek, can it? Touko replied.

"Woohoo!" Was all Sander said before he raced off with a Pokéball ready in his hand.

"I don't think you should have said that." Eiji said while he himself took out a Pokéball.

"Yeah, I have to agree with Eiji on this. Sorry Touko." Niels added.

Touko had realized her mistake right after she had said it and didn't need Niels and Eiji lecturing her. "It just sort of popped out." She looked at the bushes where Sander had disappeared. "We need to make sure he doesn't do something stupid now."

Niels shook his head. "No, he's probably already done it."

_~=*With Sander, less then 150 meters away*=~_

He hadn't expected to see half of the police officers laying down on the ground. On the other hand, Team Aqua had suffered some loss already too, though considerably less then their opponents did. Every single member of team Aqua was using a Crawdaunt, some even two. Sander had

The lockdown hadn't been initiated because most Aqua members were still on the other side, while police forces had already entered. In other words, it was a mess. Flamethrowers were flying across the place, but since Team Aqua was using water Pokémon, they hardly did a lot of damage, while they in turn used Water attacks which did do a considerable amount of damage.. You would think that against Team Aqua they would have some form of special Pokémon to do the job, but no.

He was however, fascinated by the battle and almost forgot that he wanted to help the ´good´ guys out. He also let his guard down allowing his friends to sneak up on him without him even noticing them.

"At least you haven't gotten yourself into trouble yet." Niels said, waking Sander up from his 'trance'.

"Look, they're losing we should help them, don't you think?" Sander said.

The four looked at the battle, he was right, the police was losing.

"Well then I guess we better get started." Eiji said, acknowledging that the officers did need some sort of help, and they were the best they had for right now. "Jukain, Kamex, I need your help!" A lizard and turtle appeared before them.

"Blastoise, the Shellfish Pokémon. Blastoise is the final evolved form of Squirtle. It can launch powerful blasts of water from its water spouts." Niels' Pokédex said.

"Sceptile, the Forest Pokémon. Its arms are equipped with razor-sharp leaves, and it moves lightly through tree branches in order to attack its enemies." Sander's Pokédex said.

"A Blastoise and Sceptile eh?" Niels said while he looked at the duo of strong looking Pokémon. "That's pretty amazing."

"Thanks, now how about we start helping them?" Eiji replied.

"Right!" The three said at the same time, and moments later seven other Pokémon had also materialized.

"Kamex, use Hydro Pump and hit those two Crawdaunt over there." Eiji commanded while pointing at a pair of Crawdaunt who were hammering their claws against a Growlithe. "Jukain, Leaf Storm on the two over on the left!"

"We can't stay behind guys! Combusken use Double Kick, Zigzagoon use a Headbutt and Bagon fire a DragonBreath!" Niels ordered

"Treecko spit your Bullet Seed and Taillow slash them with your Wing Attack!"

"Mudkip use your Water Gun, Poochyena use Bite!" Sander finally said.

Each Pokémon went into fights with Crawdaunts of Team Aqua.

First off, Kamex aimed the cannons on his back and blew the two Crawdaunt away that were attacking the Growlithe, smacking them into the wall by the sheer force of the water with which the Hydro Pump hit them.

Jukain launched a flurry of leaves from her back which hit two more Crawdaunt, one of whom got instantly knocked out, which resulted in some swearwords being thrown towards Eiji by its trainer.

Zigzagoon sprinted through the legs of several officers and Aqua's before slamming his head into a Crawdaunt which instantly knocked him out. Zigzagoon that is, not the Crawdaunt who started laughing alongside its trainer. "Crawdaunt, hahahaha, finish him off!" Crawdaunt raised its claw but right before it hit Zigzagoon, he was being returned by Niels.

"We can't hit them head on, not our Pokémon at least, we have to keep our distance." He notified Touko and Sander.

Taillow had not heard Niels, and hit a Crawdaunt with one of her wings. This proved to be fatal to the Crawdaunt who had been softened up by Growlithes before. However, in turn Taillow came crashing down to the ground, she tried to use her other wing desperately to soften up the landing, but to no avail.

"Taillow!" Touko shouted out in surprise before she returned her Pokémon.

"Alright, Combusken cancel that Double Kick and switch into a close range Ember. If we can't hit them physically, then we'll just have to roast them." Niels ordered.

After seeing what happened to Zigzagoon and Taillow he gladly changed his attack and stopped his jump, then proceeded to shoot many flames out of his mouth towards the nearest Crawdaunt.

Mudkip meanwhile, had been spraying a Water Gun towards a Crawdaunt who had been knocked back by Kamex Hydro Pump.

"Crawdaunt! Break through and use a Bubble followed by Crabhammer!" One of the Aqua grunts shouted.

The Crawdaunt who was being splashed by Mudkip released several bubbles from its claw, that claw then glowed white and he charged towards Mudkip.

Mudkip got hit by the Bubble attack, knocking him back. "Mudkip, get out of there!" Sander quickly ordered when he saw Mudkip was in trouble. Mudkip skilfully dodged the Crabhammer by jumping away at the very last moment before impact. Crawdaunt hit the ground below him and got his claw stuck in the ground.

All the while when the battle had been going on, there were two people behind the scenes. There was someone overlooking the battle, one of the Team Aqua admins. He or she had been concerned when reinforcements showed up for the police, but right now they didn't seem to be such a threat especially considering what he/she had ordered the second person to do.

The second person was currently sneaking up behind them, with drawn knives. That person was looking for the easiest one to kill.

Niels felt someone behind him and dodged away only mere milliseconds before a knife cut his cheek. When he turned around to look who just hit him, there was nobody there. His hand swiped away the blood that was coming out of the wound. "That's gonna leave a mark." He said quietly to himself. "Watch you back everyone, there's some sort of ninja around."

"What do you- Are you alright?" Touko nearly screamed out loud when she saw Niels was bleeding.

"I'm fine." He answered. _'Whoever did this is going to pay!' _

During all of this, the combined power of Bagon, Combusken, Treecko and several Growlithes had brought down two Crawdaunts and the Aquas were slowly retreating. Their Pokémon numbers were dwindling fast, and with more and more officers getting up again after getting knocked down earlier, panic started to spread among the grunts.

Poochyena had realized there was nothing he could do, so after the first appearance of the 'ninja' he decided to guard his trainer's and everyone else's back.

Eiji's Sceptile Jukain was doing most of the work, launching Grass-type attacks that at times knocked out her opponents with a single hit. And Kamex had been washing away several grunts with his Hydro Pump who screamed as the current drove them towards the officers, standing ready to take them in.

The two Jenny's had been using their Growlithes to separate a grunt and Crawdaunt from the rest of the group and were now taking him in aswell. All the other police officers had been trying to do the same but with no success.

"Bagon, Combusken dodge that Crabhammer, then do a DragonBreath/Double Kick combo!" Niels commanded. A Crawdaunt that had been charging towards the pair, missed its attack. Then Bagon started using DragonBreath on the back of the Crawdaunt, and after a few seconds Combusken jumped in with a Double Kick. The armor on the Crawdaunt cracked and it fell forward to the ground, knocked out.

Seeing that Sander was distracted for a moment (why, nobody knows), Touko took over command of Mudkip. "Mudkip! Use your Water Gun to propel the seeds from Treecko's Bullet Seed forward into that Crawdaunt over there!" Mudkip hesitated for a moment and then did as he was told. With the extra force behind the seeds those that hit Crawdaunt had added effect. Then Jukain finished it off with a Leaf Blade attack.

At that moment the grunts started running back into their base. Much to the dismay of the admin sitting far and safe away underground looking at everything on big screens. This wasn't part of the plan, and now they had to go to plan B. The admin informed the 'ninja' and pushed a button.

All officers ran after the grunts, and after a few seconds the four trainers followed.

The Aqua base shook for a moment, stopping almost everyone in their tracks. Then it exploded in a giant fireball, the shock wave sent everyone blasting off in different directions towards the sea.

* * *

A few hours later, one of the trainers opened their eyes. _'Oh great, out of the frying pan and into the __fire.'_

**A/N: Our heroes separated, how will they fare?**

**I PROMISE that the next one wont take this long to write, I did 'rewrite' the first chapter. Which means people can read it now! I can't believe how poor the punctuation and stuff was. I was a newbie then, now I'm an amateur ;)**

**Review please :D**


	18. Seperated!

**A/N: And we passed 100 reviews! (106 as of time of writing) I never expected to get this many reviews by chapter 17. So keep on reviewing, it will make the chapters come faster ;)**

**This took only 6 days, I'm improving and starting to get back to my regular posting schedule.**

**As always I want to thank: 'Yuki-Judai123', 'Wildstar of Windclan', '3rdbase101', 'Inhuman X', 'Cerridwen-Maiden', 'Addie Marie Jones', 'MeguMegu3.0' and 'draconic skysong' for reviewing**

**In other news I got Portal2 (BUY IT!) and I ordered a GameCube... Wait, WHAT! Reason, I want an official Nintendo controller that doesn't suck! for my old Gamecube games on my Wii. Controller = 32,50 € vs Console + Controller = 42,50 €. Do the math and tell me what you would do ;)**

**Anyway, Enjoy!**

A tiny blue Pokémon was flying through the air. He was _flying _through the air! Bagon had the time of his life. But something seemed wrong, how was he flying? He didn't have wings, nor did he move a part of his body.

The blue sea below him also had something odd about it, it was getting dangerously close to him. Suddenly he realized what was going on. He was falling! Immediately he started waving his tiny hands up and down in a rapid pace. _'Fly, fly, fly, fly, fly!' _He thought as the sea was getting closer and closer.

A white glow started to surround him right before he crashed into the sea. When the bubbles underwater cleared, it showed he had evolved into his next stage. Now he was engulfed in a rather large gray shell with only two openings, one at the front and one in the back. He also had four little legs with red coloring on the inner portions of them.

Then there was another tiny and insignificant part, atleast that is if he had not been in the water. He felt very heavy, and was now sinking rapidly into the deeper portions of the sea and with only a limited air supply, he was in trouble. _'I wanted to evolve, but this isn't helping.' _Was the last thing he thought until the blackness of the sea swallowed him.

_~=*Somewhere on Route 107, same time*=~_

Bagon was not the only one that had recently evolved. A light-blue Pokémon was swimming through the seas towards an island with someone on his back. The Pokémon, Marshtomp, was a bipedal amphibious creature, mostly light-blue in color with orange and black accentuation. He has an angular black fin on his head, small orange eyes, and orange colored pointed gills on the ends of both cheeks, similar to those of when he had been a Mudkip. He also had fairly long arms with three-fingered hands. And to finish he had legs with three small toes upon its feet, and two black fins as its tails.

The person on his back was Sander, his trainer. He was unconscious, and had been drifting in the sea when Marshtomp had found him. Now they were heading towards a small island in the hopes of finding someone there, but Marshtomp wasn't felling very confident about it. Not only was the weight of his trainer getting heavier by the minute, he was also still getting used to this new body.

Marshtomp was hoping everyone else were doing better then them. But he wasn't going to place a bet on it if he had the chance.

_~=*Somewhere else on Route 107, same time*=~_

Touko was unconscious too, though somehow able to clamp on to a piece of wood so she remained drifting along with the waves of the sea. A large boat was approaching her, they were sure they had seen someone out there in the waters, and they had been right.

"Looks like we got one last-minute 'passenger' men!" A male voice shouted across deck which resulted in several others laughing.

They started bringing Touko up on the deck of the ship. When she finally got there many people were staring at her though she had no way of knowing that.

"Boss, she'll make us rich!" Another voice said.

"Yeah, I know some high bidders back in Orre to get their hands on someone like her." The 'Boss' said while his eyes sparkled just thinking of the money they would make with the results of this trip. "Lock her with the rest of those fools down below. And get on with your work already, break's over!"

Touko got dragged downstairs and thrown into some sort of cell. The impact made her conscious again, but she had no idea what was going on and her vision was blurry.

"Touko? Is that you?" A familiar female voice said to her.

_~=*Aboard a ship, same time*=~_

Niels opened his eyes, he was laying in a bed and to be honest he didn't want to leave the bed. But when he saw the decoration of the room, he was on high alert.

Everything in the room had some sort of Team Aqua logo on it. From the bedsheets to the cup of water that was standing next to him. _'__Oh great, out of the frying pan and into the fire. That's just my luck.' _But there was something odd about the situation. This was a pretty luxurious room and not some sort of jail.

The door of his room slid open and a girl his age with long blond hair walked in, she was wearing a Team Aqua outfit like all the other form the notorious Team did. "Ah, you're awake! How are you feeling?" She said with a smile.

Niels looked at her, she seemed to be friendly, even though it might just be for the moment. "I'm fine, thanks." He brought one of his hands to his belt only to realize it wasn't there, what's even worse was that he was only wearing his underwear. He looked at the girl who was still standing there. "Where are my clothes?"

"Well we had to wash them silly! They were soaking wet from when we pulled you up out of the sea." She walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of it, making Niels feel very uncomfortable. "But your Pokéballs and PokéNav are in that drawer over there. She pointed towards a cabinet standing next to his bed.

He opened it up and got all of his belongings out. "It's quite strange that you only have a Zigzagoon and are out here near Dewford Island. And you don't have to check you Pokéballs, he is in our onboard infirmary. Looked like he got hit on the head pretty hard."

"You can say that again." Niels said as he recalled Zigzagoon crashing into that Crawdaunt earlier.

"You're not much of a talker, are you? I'll see if your clothes are ready, the Boss wanted to see you as soon as you were awake." The girl stood up and left the room, leaving Niels pondering on why Team Aqua was helping him. Guess he would get his answers soon.

_~=*An island on Route 107, same time*=~_

On a small island in the middle of the sea, three creatures were not getting along very well, well two of them didn't, the third just sat there, watching them.

"No, Dewford island is that way!" The tallest of the three said. Combusken and Poochyena were pointing in opposite directions, while Treecko was just standing not the sideline, minding her own business.

"You are really dumb aren't you?" Poochyena said which resulted in an Ember being thrown at him which he easily dodged.

Treecko sighed. "Can you two just stop arguing for one second? Why do we want to go to Dewford anyway?"

"Because we are hungry and want to eat something!" Both of them said in unison.

"I heard chicken tastes good this time of the year." Poochyena muttered.

"WHAT!" Combusken glared at him. "THAT'S IT, PREPARE TO DIE!" He lunged forward with a Double Kick, which would have hit Poochyena had Treecko not intervened. She launched a Bullet Seed at Combusken that knocked him off course.

"We are not going to survive if we are going to attack each other, now start thinking about a way we can get off of this island!" Treecko yelled angrily at both of them. "Don't Pokémon reflect their trainer's personalities? So why are you two fighting, your trainers are best friends."

"Even if that is the case, we still have free will you know." Combusken said while he got back to his feet.

Treecko sighed and sat down. "What if you burn down the trees on the island? Maybe that will get the attention of a boat or something."

"B-but the shade! Without it how do we keep ourselves from overheating?" Poochyena said.

Combusken didn't reply to this and blasted an Ember at the group of trees. "Go for a swim if you want to keep cool."

* * *

Back with Marshtomp, he saw the trees on the island set ablaze as he approached them. He had a pretty good idea that that was Combusken's work, so he sped up a little bit.

His eyes focused on the island, and revealed three figures standing. Marshtomp immediately recognized two of them, and after a few moments the third one too.

"Hey, guys!" He shouted at them. Though he wasn't counting on them hearing him, his voice was weak after all the swimming he had done so far.

* * *

Poochyena's ears sprung up and he turned around towards the sea to check for what he had just heard.

"Mudkip?" His whispered to himself, which gained the attention of Treecko.

"Hmm? What is it?" Treecko asked. "You think you heard Mudkip?"

"I know I heard him, he's right over there!" Poochyena said as he went to swim towards them, followed soon by Treecko.

_~=*Back with Touko, same time*=~_

Touko had gotten to hear the short version of what had happened. She was now on what could only be described as a pirate ship, locked away to be sold to one of the many gangs in Orre.

The person who's voice she had recognized was none other then Firefly, who had been on a small yacht when the pirates boarded them one day ago. Her Grovyle was somewhere on this ship, looking around using the airducts. How he got in was something they didn't know.

There was a rumor floating around that they would be saved soon enough. Apparently there was this guy had been watching the news a lot and had seen that many of these pirate ships had been destroyed by someone. However they didn't know who they were, and most of the people didn't get back on the mainland, they just disappeared from the map.

There was nothing Touko could do for now other then waiting, and hoping there would indeed be someone to save her and everyone else soon.

_~=*Team Aqua ship 'Liberator', same time*=~_

His clothes were still drying, so he was 'forced' to wear a Team Aqua uniform. It was itchy and it just didn't feel right, atleast he didn't had wear one of those bandanas. Anger was boiling inside of him as the girl from earlier led him around the ship towards their 'boss'. It seemed like nobody knew his name, though they probably did, and if Niels was right, then he knew it too.

"You look good in those clothes." The girl said to him when she looked at him.

He simply glared back, but it didn't seem like she noticed.

"Alright, here we are." She said as they stopped in front of a door. "I can't go in, I'm not ranked high enough." She pushed a button next to the door. "He's here." She said and after a second or two, they could hear a buzzer and the door slid open.

Niels stepped inside the room before the door closed again. The room was bright and colorful, many aquariums were located at the sides of it and there were also several paintings on the wall. Looking out the window from behind a desk a man sat.

Unlike most Aqua members, he was dressed completely in black, aside from the blue bandana on his head. Niels instantly recognized him as Archie the leader/boss/whatever of Team Aqua.

He turned around to look at him. "You may wonder why I called you here."

Niels shrugged. "Depends on the why."

"What does a kid do all by himself drifting in the ocean?" He asked as he walked to the chair behind his desk and sat in it.

"Well I blew up one of your bases and the resulted shock wave sent me flying here." Niels replied.

Archie stared blankly at him for a moment and let the words sink in. Then he started laughing. "That's a good one." He stopped laughing. "But seriously though, how did you get here?"

"I must have banged my head and fell off of my ship, I don't remember anything else."

Archie looked disappointed. "No pirates involved?"

Now it was Niels' turn to laugh. "There aren't any pirates in Hoenn. You need to go to Orre for that, or the Sevii islands."

"Well, usually yes. But over the last few weeks ships have gone off the grid. Hundreds of people are missing. Don't you watch the news?"

Niels' smile quickly faded. He had a sudden feeling either Touko, Sander or both had met these pirates. "I have been traveling for awhile now."

"Ah yes, with only a Zigzagoon?" He smiled. "You won't make it in the world if you only have a Zigzagoon. I am sure Emily can help you with that."

"Who?" Niels asked, hoping he would not say that it was the girl just outside of this room.

"The girl that has been showing you around and took care for you when you were still unconscious. You never asked for her name?" Niels facepalmed.

A ringing sound could be heard. Archie looked at the phone on his desk. "Could you excuse me for a minute? Emily will answer any questions you may have." He picked up the phone while Niels was moving towards the door. "Jessica, I assume you bring good news?" He was silent for a few seconds and turned pale. "WHAT!" And the door closed behind Niels.

_~=*Back at the island, same time*=~_

Sander was awake and was desperately trying to get his PokéNav to work. He was happy when he saw that Mudkip had evolved but now he had to find everyone else. Eventually, the screen on the PokéNav lit up, now he just had to get to the locator.

The trees were still burning, albeit a lot less intensive then they did when Combusken had set them on fire. All the Pokémon were looking out across the sea, hoping to get a glimpse of a fishing-boat heading their way.

"Over there!" Treecko shouted to the others who immediately ran towards her. She was right, there was a boat and it looked like it was heading their way.

With all the commotion the Pokémon created, Sander stood up and looked to where they had been looking. A smile formed on his face, this was the way to get out of here.

After a few more minutes, the boat laid anchor just a few meters away from the beach.

"Ahoy, landlubbers! Got stranded here eh? Ah, you aint the first we picked up today! Hop aboard!" An old sailor said tot them.

They got on the fishing-boat as fast as they could when they saw themselves eye to eye with none other then the evolved form of Bagon, Shelgon. "I don't think it's fair how you are all together and I ended up sinking to the depths of the sea, alone." He said.

"Oh, don't whine. You're alive aren't you?" Combusken said.

"Still..."

"How did you survive if you were sinking to the bottom of the sea?" Marshtomp asked.

"I'll explain later." Shelgon answered. "We got work to do!"

"Aye, by my calculations there is still two of ya missin'."

Sander's mouth fell open. "Wait, you can understand Pokémon?"

The old man nodded. "Yarr, all thanks to this nifty little gadget I got from mah brother." He took out a strange looking object from his ear. "But we must not linger, let us go!" He started up the engine and went speeding off in full throttle to try and find Niels and Touko.

_~=*With Touko, same time*=~_

"What's going on all of a sudden?" Touko asked.

A minute ago the 'pirates' started screaming until one of the higher-ranked officers went down below and made them shut up and told them to start the operations for 'Plan A'. Whatever that was supposed to be.

Firefly shrugged. "I don't know, I haven't seen Grovyle in a long time though." She didn't admit it, but she was afraid Grovyle had been discovered, and they had no idea what these people were capable of.

"I think I know what is going on." Touko said.

"What?" Firefly asked.

Touko pointed towards one of the few windows, and through it they could see a large ship. It looked like it was some sort of battleship and it was going straight towards them. What they didn't know, was that the battleship was preparing itself to attack.

_~=*With Niels, same time*=~_

"What the hell is going on?" Niels asked. For the past two minutes an alarm had been ringing, and everyone on the ship was busy doing their job.

"This is exciting, we will fight some pirates soon!" Emily said to him. "We can try your new Pokémon out too." She pointed at the Pokéball in Niels' hand.

Niels had been given a new Pokémon, Emily picked it out for him, something he really did not like, and he had no idea what it was. _'I am going to put money on this being a Magikarp.'_ He thought to himself.

"Come on out Corphish!" Emily said as she threw one of her own Pokéballs in the air, revealing a small crab-like Pokémon. Something was odd about the Corphish though, instead of being red, it was pink.

"It's..." Niels started but wasn't able to finish the sentence.

"I know right! She's got a nice pink shell." The Corphish walked up against her leg, and all the way up to the top of her head. "And one day she'll be a big and beautiful Crawdaunt!"

He wasn't sure how much more of this his mind could handle. If there weren't so many Aquas around he would've probably just killed her by now, but something inside of him was still fighting against doing so. This meant he could not do it, yet. _'But if this Pokémon I got is a Corphish...'_

* * *

"Alright men, let's take the good ones out and bring them on to the deck." Someone shouted from upstairs.

Several of the 'pirates' opened up cells and took out people, this resulted in a mass revolt by those in the cells and those that were being taken upstairs. That is until a few of the pirates pointed machine guns at them.

The cell in which Touko and Firefly sat was being opened. A man stepped in and pulled Touko with him by her arms. "Hey, get your hands off me!" She shouted to no avail as she was brought up to the deck.

Firefly looked at Touko vanishing in between the others that were being taken up. _'Grovyle, where are you?'_

* * *

The two ships now lay still in the water, almost touching each other. When Niels got to the deck of the Aqua ship it was clear that this was going to be a big battle. Dozens of Crawdaunt, Sealeo, Walrain, Crobat, Mightyena and other Pokémon were ready to begin their attack, only having to wait for the commands of their trainers.

When he looked at the other ship his heart stopped for a moment. There were around twenty prisoners standing there, each of them had a gun against their head. And one of them was Touko.

**A/N: Cliffhanger!**

**I'm sorry, I just had to do that :D**

**Big battle coming up next! Or will there, maybe we can work out a peaceful solution?**

**Review please ;)**


	19. Evil Unleashed!

**A/N: This took way too long to get up. But the next one will come next Sunday! PROMISE!**

**Also just want to say that if you do not review and have submitted an OC at some point when you were reviewing, your OC will die. And not heroic or anything like that either. So if you keep reviewing, then you should be fine ;) (Mostly)**

**Speaking of which, there are STILL two submitted OC's without reviews! THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE. No review by the next chapter and your OC will NOT be used.**

**By now I have planned out ideas for most OC's, and I will use them at some point, don't worry!**

**As always thanking: 'Yuki-Judai123', 'Wildstar of Wildclan', 'Burning Moon of the Sky', 'Cerridwen-Maiden', 'MeguMegu3.0' and 'Addie Marie Jones' for reviewing the last chapter.**

**Anyway, Enjoy!**

_~=*Beneath Dewford Island*=~_

Two figures were sitting in a room. The first hung up a phone and turned towards a printer to grab the various pieces of paper which had just come out of it.

"He didn't sound very happy Jessica." The second one, who was sitting in a chair, said to the first who was now named Jessica.

"No, no he did not." She replied before looking through the sheets of paper she held in her hands. "Doesn't matter, we leave this base and head to Slateport immediately." She threw the sheets of paper towards the second figure. "In the meantime, here are more assassinations for you."

The second person picked them up and started reading them. "More boring nobodies..." Jessica looked at the person, who was obviously the 'ninja' from earlier, curiously.

"You used to like doing those."

The ninja stopped at a certain page. "Never, but certainly not now. They will be too easy."

Jessica kept looking at the ninja. "Just because you failed to kill someone doesn't mean you need to spend your life hunting him down."

"Can I borrow your Crobat?"

Jessica threw a Pokéball to the person. "You really need to get your own Pokémon... But I guess you found someone interesting?"

"Yes, yes I have."

_~=*On the Aqua ship, same time*=~_

He had walked downstairs in the hope that there would not be anyone there. He was right and now he had to come up with a plan, yes a plan. Somehow he doubted he could come up with one, but he had to try anyway, right?

"Zigzagoon is out, Combusken and Bagon are not here, which is still a problem I need to solve later, and this Pokémon is probably useless which means I'll have to do things my own way." He said to himself.

Ever since he had seen Touko on the pirate ship with a gun against her head, he had been thinking of ways to get her out of there. With Team Aqua making the decisions upstairs, he was concerned for her life. As much as they want to help us, they wouldn't mind a few civilian casualties, that much became clear when Archie had said that they would not be negotiating with these pirates.

He looked through a porthole on the side of the ship. Nothing could be seen on what was going on on the pirates' deck. At least there hadn't been an attack fired off just yet.

"What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?" He quickly checked if nobody was coming after that last little outburst, surely someone must have heard him.

"Why do you want to save her so desperately?"He heard a voice say.

"You!"

_~=*On a small fishing boat, same time*=~_

The boat stopped. Sander had been giving directions using the PokéNav to find Niels and Touko, but now that they were getting close to their location, the captain turned off the engines.

"Why are we stopping?" Sander asked confused. They only needed to go on for a few more minutes and they would get there.

"This is as far as we go." The captain replied. He pointed at the two large ships not too far away. "We ain't gonna lose our ship to them pirates and Aquas."

"Pirates and Aquas?"

"Aye, the Aquas have been bringing down multiple pirate ships in the last few weeks. You don't want to be in the middle of one of their battles."

Sander looked at the ships and then at his PokéNav. There was no doubt about it, both of them were on board one of the ships. "Marshtomp, we are leaving."

Marshtomp opened one of his eyes, looked at the other Pokémon, and closed them again.

Sander face-palmed. "I am not asking you to carry all of them, just me." He threw a Pokéball into the air. "Wingull, let's go."

"Wingull?" All Pokémon wondered.

A small, white seagull-like Pokémon appeared before them, hovering in the air. Wingull's head was a large portion of its body. Its eyes were thin and dark. Wingull had a long, orange, hooked beak that is tipped with black. His wings were long, thin and with blue stripes. He had three tailfeathers, also tipped with blue. Finally he also had two small orange feet.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Combusken wondered. Shelgon and Treecko agreed with him, when did he catch this Pokémon?

"Wingull, if you carry Treecko then most of us will be there to help them out."

"Wingull!/Okay!" The Wingull said cheerfully.

"Now wait just a second!" Combusken sneered angrily. "What about us?"

"I'd evolve right now if I could, but that's not how nature seems to work." Shelgon said with disappointment. "Anyway, we're too heavy. Do you know how much I weigh?"

Combusken looked at Shelgon taking in his size and mass. "I dunno, about 50 kilos or something?"

"That was a rhetorical question you idiot." Shelgon sighed. "Anyway, they already left."

"WHAT?" Combusken looked at Sander and the others slowly vanishing out of sight.

"He's going to get himself killed..." The captain said. "A fool, but a brave fool.

~=*With the ships, same time*=~

Touko wasn't scared, well not _as_ scared as most of the others around her were. She knew that somehow she would be saved soon enough, she was more or less waiting for it to happen now.

But she had been standing here for a while now, her legs were getting tired and she had to go to the bathroom. She had considered jumping overboard at one point, but not only did she doubt she would make it that far, she would also be leaving Firefly, Taillow and all her belongings.

She was wondering where everybody else was at this moment. If anyone was on the Aqua ship, and they weren't being held prisoner, then she would have seen that person by now.

There was nothing she could do besides waiting, and hoping that soon enough, someone was going to get her out of this mess.

* * *

"_You can't save her."_ A twisted voice said to him.

"Heh, and _you _can?"

"_Yes. Not that I am saying I will."_

Niels sighed, speaking to 'him' was never a good idea, but he was interested in their first conversation in four years. "Why should I trust you?"

"_You shouldn't, but what choice do you have? Without your/my help, she will die."_

"You seem so certain." He sat down on a chair.

"_The Aquas don't care about civilian casualties, if these pirates don't surrender then her chance of survival is slim. You saw what they did back on Dewford."_

"I refuse to let you willingly take control."

"_I would have been disappointed if you had said otherwise. You would look weak, and I need someone who is strong enough to defy me."_

"Like I care... Now shut up and let me think."

"_So what will you wear on her funeral? Well that depends really doesn't it? Maybe they'll just throw her overboard. Good riddance, we don't need some bullshit ceremony in honor of someone who is dead. _("Shut up.") _They might not even do that, they might keep the body and use it for their own. Do you want me to start on the endless amounts of possibilities? I could go on for hours, I have a huge imagination, and by extension, so do you. _("SHUT UP!") _And what about us? Maybe we can join the party too? Because if you honestly think that the Aquas are going to let us live then you are sorely mistaken._

Being driven crazy by the voice and words, Niels smashed his head against a glass table to make it stop. He went through it and got knocked out, blood flowing out of his new head wound, and glass shards almost impaling his brain. Now it was all about who regained consciousness first.

* * *

Grovyle had been stuck in a narrower part of the air ducts for a while, but had finally managed to get out of them. Now she was climbing up towards the deck after having made a quick stop with Firefly, who had told her about Touko.

Shouldn't be a problem, Grovyle was both fast and agile, it was more going to be a matter of patience to wait for the opportune moment to get her out of the line of fire.

She banged her head against the wall. _'A dead end. Why is this place like a maze...'_

* * *

He opened his eyes and stood up. Dizzy, he was dizzy, and his head hurt. No matter, his plan had worked, although this had been way too close.

He brought his hand up to his head and a red flame shot out, removing the glass and healing the wounds there. He was back in control, it had taken him years, but he knew time was short.

Preparations, yes that was what he needed to make, for the next time. After his sight had restored to full he saw Emily had been watching him.

"That was so cool!" She said happily after witnessing him healing his wounds. "Do you need any help though?"

He looked at her, an evil smile forming on his face. She didn't notice however. "Yes, I could use your help.

* * *

"Sir, they are not going to surrender." A grunt said to Archie.

Archie grumbled. He had hoped they wouldn't, he had to take out his frustrations on them over the lost base on Dewford. "Go ahead. Minimize the casualties of civilians if you can, if not... that's too bad for them."

"Yes sir!" And he took off.

Archie reached for his Pokéballs and sword. He had always liked swords more then guns, perhaps fighting with a sword was more personal, rather then pulling the trigger and waiting for the victim to die. He threw his Pokéballs in the air. "Let's go."

* * *

She had finally reached a place from which she could jump out. That took long enough, now she had to find Touko.

Reaching into her memory there was only a vague recollection of who the girl was. She saw someone who looked like her, so that must be her. She wasn't far away, she could get there in mere seconds if she needed to. But now was not the time. She looked over to the other ship when a lot of fuzz arose from there.

"This is you last chance. Surrender now or face the consequences."

All pirates laughed. "Let 'em have it!" One of them yelled.

Immediately every pirate holding a gun started shooting at the Aquas, whom in turn ducked so they wouldn't get hit.

Grovyle knew this was the right time. She jumped out of her hiding place and sprinted towards Touko and the guy holding her. A combination of Agility and Leaf Blade struck him and he fell downwards in pain. She grabbed Touko and jumped over to the Aqua ship, knowing that it would be the safest place to be right now.

Meanwhile, everything went so fast that Touko had no idea what had just happened other then the fact that she was off of the pirate ship.

When she got a good look at her surroundings she saw that a Grovyle was standing in front of her. She sighed in relief, this had to be Firefly's Grovyle and that meant she was safe, for now at least.

"I'll be fine, go help Firefly." She said as she got up reaching for her Pokéballs, only to realize they were gone. She wanted to tell Grovyle that, but there was no sign of her anymore.

* * *

Sander had climbed up the side of the ship, it had take awhile but he finally made it. This was the ship of Team Aqua and it was probably better if he didn't get spotted for now.

He called out Marshtomp again, who had been in his Pokéball temporarily. Fighting was going on on the other side of the ship. He could hear screams, voices and gunfire. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea.

He walked on to the back of the ship, Marshtomp and Treecko warily at his side while Wingull didn't seem to care what was going on and was just flying above their heads cheerfully.

Treecko was the first to look around a corner, she jumped happily in the air and ran off.

"Hey, get back here!" Sander yelled after her.

He ran after the Pokémon, but when he ran around the corner he knew why Treecko had been so happy. There, at the end of the walkway, sat Touko with Treecko now in her arms.

He walked over to her. "Hey, you alright?" He asked.

She looked up, she hadn't even noticed Sander walking up to her. "Yeah, I'm fine now." She looked past him and saw Marshtomp with Wingull on his head. "Mudkip evolved?"

"And now he is a pretty good swimmer, I can tell you that."

She stood up. "How did you get here?" He pulled out the PokéNav from his backpack. "I should have known. Any sign of Niels and his Pokémon?"

"Actually that is what is weird, you aren't supposed to be on this ship, he is. His Pokémon are-" He stopped talking when one of the pirates showed up, a gun in one hand and a Pokéball in the other.

"Wait a minute, weren't you on our ship just now?" The pirate asked when he saw Touko.

A red and yellow object hit him from the side in his head and he tumbled off the railing, falling into the water.

"Yeah! That's the way we do things in my town!" Somehow, Combusken had made his way up to the ship.

"How the hell did you get here?" Sander and Marshtomp asked in disbelief. "There is no way you swam all the way here."

"Funny story actually." Combusken said while Shelgon was now standing next to him, also somehow on the ship.

"You promised not to tell." Shelgon said with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Shelgon, he-" Combusken burst into laughter. "He sat on the captain! Forced him to do as we told him."

"And I will sit on you next if you don't stop laughing." That made Combusken shut up.

Both Marshtomp and Treecko had trouble not bursting out into laughs too while Wingull had no idea what was going on and Touko and Sander didn't know what the pair of Pokémon had just said.

Touko looked at Shelgon. "What is that?"

"That's Bagon, now evolved into a Shelgon."

"Oh." She thought for a second. "So we are still missing four. Niels, Taillow, Zigzagoon and Poochyena. Taillow probably being on the pirate ship though."

"Actually, Poochyena is right here." He showed a Pokéball. "And Niels should be here, all we need to do is find him."

Touko looked at Sander suspiciously. "You sound different. Your voice and the way you speak."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." He replied with an honest look on his face that Touko believed it. Still, there was something going on here, and she was going to find out what.

* * *

What he felt was like waking up from a bad dream. While opening his eyes he tried to remember the last thing he did, he couldn't. He must have blacked out at some point for he wore his own clothes again.

Zigzagoon was sniffing against his leg, which meant he had to have gone to the infirmary too. But there were no memories. Last thing he knew, he saw Touko being held hostage with a gun against her head.

Speaking of which, how much time had passed since then? He looked at a clock but time made no sense to him either, what the time was back then... he had no idea.

He stood up, using the wall to keep himself steady while his legs were starting to get to work again. He saw a glass table that was shattered, something told him that it was important, but he ignored it, it was just a broken table.

Maybe fighting had begun? It was then that his ears heard multiple people screaming and the sound of a large Pokémon battle. He should check it out, maybe he could help.

* * *

The lock on the door shattered after just one swift strike.

"Good job Grovyle!" Firefly said.

With everyone out of their cells they could start their own attack on these pirates. Grovyle had taken the two guards out easily though she did get hit by a bullet which grazed the side of her left leg. This was not a problem for now though, they had other things to do then to tend for wounds, that's how Grovyle saw it at least, Firefly didn't like this but had decided that Grovyle might be right.

Their first task was to get everyone's belongings back, after that they'd get to the deck and take out the remaining pirates.

* * *

_'Alright, let's see what is in this Pokéball.'_ Niels thought to himself while he looked at the Pokéball he had gotten from Emily.

He threw it in the air and it released a small crab-like Pokémon. Yes, it was a Corphish.

"I should have known..." He sighed. "Still, I guess it is better then Zigzagoon." Zigzagoon was running in circles, chasing his tail. "Come on, we have a battle to win here!" he said and they ran to the nearest staircase.

However, before they got there, one pirate and two of his Pokémon had come down.

"Rhyhorn, Horn Attack! Lairon use your Headbutt!" He commanded to his two Pokémon.

"Corphish, use a ViceGrip to hang on to the horn of that Rhyhorn, then follow it up with a CrabHammer! Zigzagoon... just stay out of trouble." Niels ordered.

Corphish charged towards Rhyhorn and then jumped in the air and grabbed onto the Rhyhorn's horn. Then he proceeded to fling himself around and used the momentum he gained from that to bash Rhyhorn's head in with his glowing pincer.

It took a moment for Rhyhorn to realize what had just happened, but then it collapsed on the floor, knocked out.

Lairon had stopped in its tracks and the pirate and Niels were staring at Corphish. "Maybe you are useful after all." Niels said with a grin.

* * *

"We can get inside through here." Touko said. They had wandered around to the side of the ship where Sander had climbed up. Now they got inside, trying to find the PokéNav they were looking for, and its owner.

They could hear someone whimpering.

"What was that?" Touko asked.

Sander shrugged. "I don't know everything, you know. Besides what did you hear?"

Touko placed her head against the wall, trying to hear the sound again. She did. "I think we need to open this door."

Sander wasn't sure about this. "I don't think that is a good-" Touko had already opened a door. "Yes, let's just open doors at random, seems like a great idea to me!" He heard Touko scream, in horror? Pain? He couldn't quite figure it out. "Touko?" He asked a little concerned.

She barged out of the room and threw up on the floor. She was completely pale and shaking. "Wh-what... what... what 'person' c-could have d-done such a _th-thing_?"

Sander was curious now and looked inside the room she had just opened. "The hell are you talking about? There is nothing here."

**A/N: And once again, a chapter gets longer then I anticipated.**

**Next chapter up by Sunday. If not, then you can punch me. In the next chapter: Battle! And what happened to poor Emily? Wrong place, wrong time.**

**Review please! (They really mean a lot to me!)**


	20. Reunion at Last!

**A/N: Alright I am never going to make another promise on when the next chapter comes out. (To make things worse, this chapter really isn't that long...) Also, please don't punch me!**

**As always I want to thank: 'Yuki-Judai123', 'A Sea of Sound', 'Mew Musica', 'Wildstar of Windclan', 'Burning Moon of the Sky', 'Addie Marie Jones', 'Cerridwen-Maiden', '3rdbase101', 'draconic skysong' and 'tac1060' for reviewing the last and/or earlier chapters.**

**Also, the OC's by 'chaison' and 'SoulSilverShipping' will not be used since they are incompetent idiots who CAN'T read, I have given you twenty chapters to write a review, and you still fail at that.**

**Also after this chapter, extreme craziness stops for a few chapters, and we return to collecting badges and catching Pokémon, among other things ;) .  
Yes there are some really weird things in this chapter ;)  
**

**Enjoy!**

Touko poked her head around the door again, closed her eyes and took a step back.

"Y-you really don't see that?" She asked with fear in her voice.

After noticing Combusken and Shelgon had left the group, Sander walked inside the room, looked around and still saw absolutely nothing. "What should I be seeing?" He asked, by now he thought Touko was just imagining things.

She walked in after him, expecting it to be gone, but it wasn't. She pointed towards one of the corners. "There i-is a girl o-over there."

Sander looked at the corner and then back at Touko. "Listen, if you are trying to pull a prank on me then that is fine, but we got better things to do." He walked out of the room but Touko stayed inside.

She wasn't sure of what to do. That girl needed help. No, 'help' was not the right word here, how was she even alive? It looked as if every bone in the girl's body had been broken multiple times, her limbs were dislocated and twisted into ways the human body shouldn't be able to do.

Any normal human would have died by either the pain or injuries, and there couldn't be any exceptions to that rule. But yet, the girl was crying. The more Touko looked at her, the more she overcame her fear and started walking towards her.

She knelt down next to her. "Hey."

There was no response, Touko waved her hand in front of the girl's eyes, still no reaction. Touko thought she was deaf and blind, but surely she would react to touch, right?

* * *

"Now finish him with Bubble!" Niels ordered.

Corphish took a leap in the air and released several bubbles towards the Lairon, who had already suffered a great deal of damage thanks to the earlier attacks that had hit him.

When the bubbles exploded against the side of his body, he felt it was too much and fell to the ground.

With his Lairon now also knocked out, the pirate quickly surrendered, however a shadow approached him from behind and stabbed him in the back. The pirate turned pale and collapsed.

The figure removed the sword from the body of the pirate. "Come on kiddo, we got them on the run! Don't fall behind" The voice of Archie shouted at him.

"Was that really necessary, he surrendered!" Niels yelled back at him.

Archie didn't move but looked at him with what could be considered some sort of respect. Most men would dare speak to Archie like that if they knew him well enough. "Kid, when you are on the seas, nobody will stop you from doing what you want, and we are just doing the world a favor."

With that, he turned away and left.

Niels wasn't sure of what to do now and he put his hands in his pockets to think. In his right pocket however, he found a piece of paper with writing on it.

_'The board is set._

_The pieces are moving._

_The strongest will be mine.'_

"Fuck." He said to himself while reading the note a few more times. He had been careless and stupid.

This was a message left by 'him'. "The strongest?" If this concerned his friends, then the strongest would be Sander, both physically and in terms of Pokémon battling. He was sure of that. But these could easily be references to the game called 'chess'.

The strongest piece in that game would be the Queen, arguably also the only female piece on the board. And that could only mean, "Touko..." And with that he heard a female scream that would have shattered his eardrums, had he not covered them in time.

Only three things could have happened to her, he hoped he was wrong however and that this hadn't been Touko. But he'd be lying if he said he was sure it wasn't Touko.

* * *

She woke up in an odd place. It was completely empty aside from a desk, a computer, a chair and someone who was sitting inside of it.

_'What just happened?'_ She thought. She remembered trying to get a reaction from the girl and had grabbed her hand, or whatever was left of it. Then she felt herself screaming before everything went dark.

Why had she screamed anyway? Nothing hurt, and there wasn't anything happening that would have made her scream usually. It was as if she wasn't the one that screamed.

"You are almost correct with that." A voice boomed through the emptiness of where she was.

She recognized it as a familiar voice, but it was completely different at the same time.

"Who are you? Where am I?" She yelled in the direction of the desk, for that was where she thought the voice came from.

The figure sitting in the chair stood up and walked to her. Her mouth almost fell open before turning into a smile. She wanted to run towards him, but there was something wrong, something that froze her in position.

"Niels?" But no, it couldn't be. He had some sort of purple glow around him, red flames situated himself around his hands, his eyes were a dark shade of red, and everything else just seemed off.

The figure, whom indeed looked a lot like him, laughed. "Partially, yes."

She cringed at the sound of his voice, she wanted to make it stop already and she had only just heard a few words.

"Right, let me take on a more normal voice. I don't need you to go insane just yet." His voice switched to her own mid-sentence, which was even more weird.

"What are you?"

"I think this is the part where I should be offended for you calling me 'what'." He sighed. "If I knew the answer to that though, things would be easier."

This wasn't really an answer she could fathom, so she just continued with another question. "Where am I?"

"Can't even say 'we'?" He sighed again. "You are inside your own mind, or more precisely, my part of your mind. Not that that will help you with anything."

* * *

"Damn these short and stubby legs!" Shelgon cursed out loud.

He and Combusken had been walking around the Aqua ship for a few minutes now, still they hadn't seen anyone on it. What was worse, was that Combusken was a lot faster then Shelgon.

"This is getting ridiculous." Combusken said while he hastily walked back to Shelgon before they lost sight of each other.

"I swear to you that this day can't get any worse for me." Shelgon whined, that's how Combusken saw it anyway, whining.

As if on cue, someone ran into the two, knocking them over.

"Oh look, it just did." Shelgon said. He was now laying on his side and was unable to get back to his feet. "Little help?"

But Combusken was busy helping his trainer up whom was the one who had crashed into them.

"Ugh, did I run into an elephant?" Niels asked, he was dizzy after colliding with the two Pokémon. All he heard after that were the names of Combusken and Shelgon, who were semi-happily calling out to him and each other.

"Hey Combusken, good to see you." He then looked over to Shelgon. "Bagon?" Shelgon nodded, well he would have if he could. "By Arceus you have gotten f-" He said before receiving a glare. "I-i mean you look great! Have you lost some weight?"

"Just help me up." Shelgon simply said.

* * *

"Alright, let's bust this door open!" A man said, followed by a tremendous sound, which could only be described as cheering by the rest of the group.

These were the 'prisoners', though they weren't exactly locked up anymore. After making their way to the bottom of the ship, where their belongings were stored, they had fought their way up to the level right below the main deck.

Firefly had taken her own stuff and something which she thought was Touko's bag. There had been a Pokéball inside of it, which had to be Taillow.

And now, she and Grovyle were sitting in the back, with a few other trainers and Pokémon, which had either been hurt during the attack, or just didn't want to fight unless necessary.

Grovyle didn't want to admit it, but she needed some top-class medical treatment right away. But being out at sea, she just had to cope with the pain and loss of fast movement for now. Healing moves had never been her specialty, now she regretted ever not wanting to train them better.

Firefly was worried for Grovyle, though she didn't show it. Grovyle knew this, and as long as they got out of here, she didn't care if her trainer showed her she was worried or not.

* * *

Touko slightly understood how this place worked, she did refuse to accept that this was a part of her mind, but was now sitting in a chair comfortably. 'He' was still standing, and got more and more bored of this, that much Touko saw.

She had learned things during their chat over the last few minutes? Hours? She didn't even know that. The first was that she absolutely hated this thing. For one, he showed to have no regrets whatsoever about what he did to the girl, he actually claimed his responsibility with pride. Secondly, he knew everything about her, all her dreams and hopes, her pain and sorrow, and most importantly her secrets. Every single thing that happened in her past, but even everything she had ever thought was there for him to use.

To torment her, he had used his 'real?' voice a few times. And he had threatened her after she punched him in his face after he had said a rather embarrassing secret. She understood that nobody could hear her scream out here and she quickly stopped any violent behavior. Speaking of screaming, he controlled that after she had touched the girl. His reasons? _"So that the right person finds you. We don't want anyone messing with my plan now do we?" _She had no idea what he meant by'the right person'.

On the other hand, she knew what he wanted. The complete and utter destruction of humanity. The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous that sounded. What fun could there be in ruling a world if there is no-one there anyway? She got an answer to that too. _"Destroyed does not mean dead. 'Destroyed' can have many different descriptions. It all depends on how you see it. That girl for instance, was also destroyed. Think about that."_

She also knew that she was a big part in his plan, which led him to decide that being in control of her at times would be a smart idea. However, she knew he also had his limitations, he could not maintain this connection between minds for very long. Although a part of him was inside of her right now, she was not talking to that part. She couldn't quite remember how he explained it though.

The last thing she knew, was that he was incredibly smart. She just knew this, the way he talked and how he could formulate extensive answers in no time at all. Then again, he probably got answers ready for every question she was possibly going to ask.

"Anything else, because I'm done with this, it's boring. Manipulating people is always more fun." He said.

"Wait. Why are you doing this?"

"I already answered that question."

"No, I mean why do you want to destroy humanity?"

"Isn't power and control the things people want most?"

"No."

He raised an eyebrow. "No?"

Touko looked him directly in the eyes. "That's not how I see it."

Both of them were silent for a moment. "Interesting. I already know what you think is what people want most. It's an answer I have never heard though." He looked back at he, his eyes glowing an even fiercer red then they had before. "It's time for you to wake up."

And with that, the world they were in collapsed. And Touko opened her eyes, thinking that this, had just been a weird dream.

* * *

He had sent Wingull away as a scout, trying to find Niels. Knowing that nobody could possibly hurt a Pokémon that dumb. Now that he thought about it, Wingull didn't even know the person he was looking for.

He let out a sigh after there was no movement of his friends PokéNav on his own. He looked at the door Touko went in, she hadn't gotten out yet. He was sure she was just messing with him, but he did want to see if she was alright. But something kept him from doing so, so he let it go and decided she was fine.

He hoped she would soon get bored though, because he hated waiting.

* * *

"Sir, the last of them have surrendered." An Aqua member said to Archie.

"Fine." He walked up to one of the admins. "Get everyone on our ship, free the prisoners and scrap this thing for any valuables.

The admin saluted. "Yes sir!"

Archie had hoped on a better fight, this was disappointing, as long as most of the prisoners joined Team Aqua, then it would have been worth it after all.

Suddenly, a door burst open and many Pokémon and humans alike poured out, ready to fight whoever was left to do so. But the Aquas just smirked, knowing that they were too late and Team Aqua had already done all of the work.

"You are the prisoners?" Archie said. He was observing them very closely. "Get on our ship, while we are scrapping this piece of junk."

The group was unsure of what to do at first, Team Aqua didn't exactly have a good reputation. But in the end they had no other choice really, unless they wanted to end up in another fight.

* * *

She was about to scream again when she saw that her right-hand was on fire. But then she realized that it didn't hurt, actually it felt rather nice.

Touko walked out of the room towards Sander. "Hey, check this out!" Sander turned to face her, and before she knew it, the flame disappeared.

"What exactly should I be seeing?" He asked.

"N-nothing." Touko said. She wasn't exactly sure if she had been hallucinating just now or not.

"Are you done with your little hide-and-seek thing? Because quite frankly I think we have better things to do."

"Hey, there you are!"A voice shouted towards them!

Niels looked at them, they seemed to be alright, though were bickering again. He wasn't exactly sure of what happened, so he decided to not ask questions until a later date, when things would have been returned to normal.

~=*A Few Days Later*=~

A few days passed when Slateport came in sight. The few that didn't join Team Aqua were excited to finally see land again.

One day after the 'rescue' Archie had asked everyone if they wanted to join Team Aqua. And to the surprise of those that didn't, almost a hundred people said they would. Archie however, did seem disappointed when he heard a 'no' from Niels, after he had asked him directly.

And now, the three were sitting in the mess hall. Eating some lunch before they were going to set foot on dry land again.

"You know what I just realized?" Niels asked, even though he was going to give the answer immediately. "We never got our badges."

Sander spat out the food in his mouth. "Shit, you're right! Now what do we do?"

Touko looked disgusted at Sander's plate. "I am not going back there."

"She's right, we should just go to Mauville next. We'll get those badges eventually."

Sander didn't like the sound of the idea, but he wasn't going to go back alone, so he said: "Fine by me."

"Now that I think about it, I never got an Aron." Touko said.

Neither Niels nor Sander knew how to respond to that properly.

"You know what, you should compete in the Slateport Contest." Niels said to Touko.

"What?"

"Yeah, I heard some people aboard the ship talk about it. And come on, you can't just tag along with us and not have some sort of goal in mind." Niels explained.

"And why not?" Touko said, slightly angry.

"Oh, just try it out, if it's nothing then you won't have to do it again."

Touko looked at her food. "Okay, but you should expect payback at some point, just so you know." She said back with a grin.

Niels and Sander chuckled, both for different reasons. "Good luck with that." Niels said, which earned him a glare from Touko.

* * *

Only once they arrived at Slateport, did they realize they never said goodbye to Firefly, and she didn't say goodbye to them.

"None of you have seen her since she brought me my bag? She is our friend right? We should have gone out to find her." Touko asked the two.

"Nope I haven't seen her, she is one strange person." Niels replied, somehow he doubted Firefly would ever become real friends with them.

"Says you." Sander said.

"Good point."

* * *

The Aquas that were part of the original crew watched everyone that didn't want to be a part of their team get ashore. They were grinning, thinking of how stupid these people were.

"So shall we start placing bets?" One of them asked the rest.

**A/N: Questions? I may or may not answer them ;)**

**Want to inform everyone that if you submitted coordinator OC's, you'll see them soon ;) As well as some familiar (Anime) faces, and the return of the idiots ;)**

**Review please!**


	21. Contest and Coordinators!

**A/N: Damn you writer's block! And damn you computer! This took far too long to write didn't it? Things like this make me consider a co-writer.  
**

**But in these few weeks, I did manage to come up with ideas: 1- I know how two of the characters will 'die' (Notice the apostrophes!) , 2- I got several ideas from a movie/books. 3-I got the MAJOR events sketched out in my head now, including the ending. 4- There will be a total of four seasons (subject to change) not yet decided if they all remain on this story, or if I will separate them.**

**EDIT: FORGOT TO SAY THANK TO THE REVIEWERS: 'Yuki-Judai123', 'Wildstar of Wildclan', '3rdbase101', 'Inhuman X', 'MeguMegu3.0', 'Burning Moon of the Sky', 'Addie Marie Jones', 'Cerridwen-Maiden', 'pokemaster99' and 'draconic skysong'.  
**

**Ages, just so you know them: Ash-14, May-14, Brock-17, Max-10, Drew-15. Also I will not describe their clothes. Though there will be one exception, for good reason.**

**And no, only one OC gets a proper introduction (actual conversation with the main characters) The other two are there for the contest.**

**Also, something of note! Submitting clothes with your OC would be nice! This was the third one, BUT I looked at the profile of the one who submitted it, and there they were. So... crisis averted :D**

**Enjoy!**

Seven days had passed since we last saw the group. They had taken some time off since the contest wouldn't be held until the next week. Overall, it wasn't an exiting one. They had trained a bit, Touko did her best to make sure her Pokémon would look and perform as best as they could.

She had a dream stuck in her head though, but when she finally asked Niels about it, he simply said that even if it is true, it won't be a problem for now. But she saw that he was worried, and that didn't comfort her at all.

And now, we find our heroes at the morning of the contest in the Pokémon Center with only a few more hours until it would start, with Touko just finding out about something that Sander had been hiding.

"YOU LOST HIM?" Touko yelled at Sander.

"Look, he's been gone for a few days now. He likes to fly off." He said, getting slightly afraid by the way Touko looked at him.

"He's your Pokémon! Start looking for him then!"

"He's a Wingull! Where do I start looking? For all I know he could have flown to a different region by now."

The door behind them opened and Niels stepped in.

"I think the entire Center just heard you yell Touko." He sat down in a chair. "That may be a new record."

Touko's mouth fell open. "You aren't picking his side on this are you?"

Niels shrugged. "I'm not picking any sides. Wingull will show up at some point, I'm sure of it."

She walked out of the room, and slammed the door shut behind her, leaving a confused Sander and a smiling Niels behind.

"Fine, I'll start looking! Again!" Sander said after Niels looked at him for a few seconds. "Why were you smiling when she walked out though?"

"I like seeing you two fight."

Sander carefully observed him. "I'm off." He put on his shoes. "But first, two things. Firstly, you should go after her, she needs to concentrate for her contest. Secondly, I don't know who just said that, you or it?" With that he exited the room.

_'Interesting...'_

~=*With Touko, a few minutes later*=~

"Hey, where are you going?"

She turned to see Niels running towards her. "The contest hall, better to be there on time right?"

He stopped next to her and caught his breath. "Isn't it a bit early for that?"

"Might get to see some opponents. Can't hurt to know their Pokémon." She said with a smile.

"Hurry up you guys, I can't miss this, I've got to make it!" A girl was shouting from around the corner of the street they were in.

"What the?" Niels wondered and stuck his head around, which proved not to be the greatest idea. The girl ran into him, sending both of them to the ground.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" The girl asked.

She had brown hair and sapphire colored eyes. She wore a green bandanna, an orange sleeveless T-shirt with a black collar, black bike shorts, black socks, and red and white sneakers. She also carried a green waistpack.

"Yeah, I'm fine. If you could get off of me." Niels said. He turned his head towards Touko when he heard clicking coming from her direction. "Why are you making pictures of this?"

"Well, I need to seize every opportunity to gather things for my plan of revenge." She said with a small grin forming on her face.

"I don't like that look you are giving me." The girl was now standing up and reached out with her hand. "Thanks." He said while he took it.

"You shouldn't."

"Well that was kinda weird wasn't it?" The girl said to them. "But I really can't stay here to talk, I need to sign up for the contest before it's too late. So I'll see you!" And she ran off.

"Well, if _that's_ the kind of people you're up against, then you'll win this contest with no problem."

A group of three boys and a Pokémon ran past them. The tallest one of them was saying something to the rest at that moment. "Remind me of why we are running along with her?"

Niels shuddered as he watched the group was right next to him for a moment, following the girl towards the contest hall.

"Something wrong?" Touko asked, she had become increasingly wary of his movements.

"We leave Slateport after the contest, no questions."

* * *

Sander wasn't expecting miracles when he got out to find Wingull, but decided to look near the contest hall so he wouldn't be late. He was already starting to think that he should have gone to the beach, after all Wingull was part Water-type.

He entered a wooded area, maybe he was hiding in the trees. It didn't take long before he heard voices, so he ran in that direction.

"Give it back you stupid bird!" A women yelled frantically.

"Jessie, dat Wingull don't understand ya." A tiny Pokémon said. Wait, a Pokémon that could talk?

"James get that bird out of the sky with your Pokémon!"

"Why? It's pointless becau-" The man, now called James, said before being interrupted.

The women, Jessie, now stood over James and he cowered away. "James you will now get that remote back!"

James gulped. "Go Cacnea!"

He threw a Pokéball from which a small cactus like Pokémon got out of it. However, that Pokémon immediately focused its attention to James, clamping itself to his face.

"No, not me! Get that Wingull! Use Pin Missile!" He tried to say.

Wingull meanwhile, decided to let go of the strange device in its paws, and dropped it to the ground. Once on the ground, the button on it got pushed in just far enough.

"Jessie? Remind me of why we had a self destruct button on that remote?" James asked.

A loud explosion followed, sending the trio flying into the air. "We're blasting off agaaaain!" Was all that Sander could hear.

_'Wow, what a bunch of morons.'_ He pulled out Wingull's Pokéball and got ready to return the unsuspecting bird into it.

~=*Contest Hall Waiting Room, two and a half hours later*=~

_'This was a stupid, stupid idea.' _Touko was thinking to herself.

She was sitting in the waiting room backstage. She didn't recognize anyone that was sitting around her, well apart from the girl they ran into earlier in the morning, who got referred to by her friends as 'May'. But she seemed even more nervous then Touko was.

She also saw someone who was way too confident in his abilities, she planned on defeating him when she got the chance, but first she would have to get past the first round, she was certain that Treecko could get the job done, but still.

A girl sat down next to her. She was wearing short dungarees, with white vest top underneath, and a pair of loosely tied white pumps on her feet. She had a chunky golden locket tied around her neck. She had blonde, curly hair, with straight across bangs, big, green eyes with long lashes and a few freckles dotted on her cheeks "Nervous?" She asked.

"You have no idea." Touko replied.

"First time I guess?"

"Yeah."

"After awhile you'll get used to it. I was just as nervous as you the first time I did my contest."

"How did you get over it?"

"I don't know, I just did." She said. "So what's your name?"

"I'm Touko."

"My name is Leona." They shook hands. "Oh, look! They're about to begin!"

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen. The Hoenn region Pokémon Contest and pride of Slateport City will now begin." The announcer said and the audience gave a thunderous applause.

"I can hardly wait." Sander said.

"Why the hell is everyone cheering? There is nothing going on." Niels said annoyed.

"You seem a bit agitated. And I can't help but notice you have been looking for someone here, why?"

"Let's just say that I don't feel comfortable with one of_ them_ around."

"I have no idea what you mean by that."

The announcer continued. "Let's meet our judges. First the director of the Contest committee, Contesta. Next we have Sukizo from the Pokémon Enthusiast Club. And finally Slateport city's very own Nurse Joy."

"The coordinator who earns their way to victory, will be honored with the much esteemed Slateport ribbon! Those of you who collect five of these ribbons will be allowed to compete in the ultimate challenge for coordinators, the Grand Festival! My name is Vivian, and I am honored to be your MC today."

Time passed as several contestants tried to qualify for the second round, some of which failed miserably.

"And now it is time for contestant number twenty! Rebecca from Littleroot Town."

She wore a yellow t-shirt, jeans, a light-colored jacket, and leather boots. She had a black horse-head necklace on a simple braided rope around her neck. She had black hair in a ponytail, dark-brown eyes and a tanned skin.

* * *

"Hang on a minute! I know her." Sander said as the girl got ready to throw her Pokéball.

"You should, she's that girl from the Magma incident a few years back." Niels replied.

"Oh right. Damn, Littleroot went through a lot that year didn't it?"

"It did..."

* * *

After finishing her performance, which gained quite a lot more applause from the audience then any contestant had gotten so far, it was time for others to get their moment of 'glory'. Until...

"And now for contestant number twenty-four, his friends know him as Drew!"

A boy walked on stage, with a far too confident look on his smug face.

* * *

Niels and Sander burst out laughing. "He's got green hair! GREEN!"

* * *

"Roselia, go!" He threw his Pokéball in the air. And a small flower-like Pokémon appeared out of it. "Now use Petal Dance!"

Dozens, if not hundreds of pink leaves got released from the petals on Roselia's arms. All of which were sparkling, the audience was silent. And even Niels and Sander stopped laughing.

* * *

"You know, seeing _that_ makes me lose all confidence I've been trying to build up." Touko said to Leona.

But Leona didn't notice she was even being talked to, she was staring in awe at the television screen, as did most others in the room.

* * *

"So he knows what he's doing, I'll give him that." Niels said. "But come on, there is no reason for everyone needs to be staring like they have just seen the best thing in their life."

Sander didn't reply, even he was staring at the scene, and the new attacks the Roselia had been ordered to do.

Niels sighed. "Ridiculous."

* * *

More time passed, and now contestant number thirty-eight was on stage. His name was Robert, and he had the entire audience in trance with the performance of his Milotic.

With the remarkable score of 29,8, he was the highest scoring contestant of the day so far, and now it was up to Touko to give it her best shot.

"Alright, you can do this." Touko said to herself.

"And now for contestant number thirty-nine, from Rustboro City, please welcome Touko!

"Treecko, show them what you can do!" Touko said and threw her Pokéball.

The moment Treecko emerged out of it, she did a forward somersault and dove twirling into the ground.

* * *

"Did Treecko just use Dig?" Sander asked Niels while not keeping his eyes away from the stage.

"Just watch, we spent a lot of time preparing this, now it's time to see if Treecko is fast enough underground." He replied.

* * *

"Now use your Absorb/Bullet Seed combination!" Touko commanded.

For a second, nothing happened. But Touko knew it had already worked. Suddenly, red glowing seeds emerged from the ground in several places, sending pieces of rock flying alongside them.

Then, the seeds started to absorb the life sources of whatever was inside of these rocks, creating a spectacular and almost blinding sight, for dozens of flying red orbs were now surrounding the entire stage.

And while this was going on, Treecko jumped out of the earlier created entrance hole, and all the power stored and still being stored inside the seeds was redirected to the Gecko Pokémon. And then the Pokémon took control in her own hands, she used the power she received to do something she wanted to do for a while.

She started glowing white, though with all the red beams now striking her, it was hard to see. She got larger, and when the Absorb effect finally wore off, and the bullets returned into the ground, she was no longer a Treecko.

She got down to the ground, and made a bow to the audience. Touko was supposed to follow that even though that wasn't how it should have ended, but she was completely amazed by her Treecko evolving, that she simply forgot.

The audience gave a giant wave of applause.

"After that wonderful sight, how will the judges think of her performance?" Vivian asked them.

"Though a bit rough on the edges, this was a very solid performance. The ending however, could have been better." Contesta said.

"It was remarkable!" Sukizo said, like he did with almost everyone else.

"A combination of beauty and raw power, that went surprisingly well. Though there is major room for improvement." Nurse Joy said.

Her score flashed on the big screen, '25,3'

* * *

"Alright! She should be able to get through to the next round if there aren't a whole lot of good Coordinators left." Niels noted.

"So this is what the two of you have been working on." Sander said, he had not thought their performance would have been this good.

"She still has some surprises left for the next round though." Niels said with a grin.

* * *

"Are you sure that was your first ever contest?" Leona asked when Touko walked inside the waiting room again.

"Yeah, it just went so much easier then I thought." She sat down on a bench, still recovering from what she had just successfully done.

"Well, I'm up now. See you soon!" And with that she left, leaving Touko and Grovyle alone.

Touko looked at Grovyle. "I still can't believe we did this."

"Gro."

~=*One Hour Later*=~

"And now that all of our contestants had a moment to relax, it is time to show who will continue to the next round."

Eight pictures flashed on the screen. They were of Robert, Drew, Leona, Rebecca, Colin, Alicia, Touko and May

"The following contestants will battle it out in the next round!" Vivian said. "Now we'll get to see who will battle against who.

The pictures of every coordinator got paired up with another until a selection had been formed. First it would be Drew/May, then Leona/Alicia, the third match was Touko/Rebecca and finally Robert/Colin.

"The first match will begin in ten minutes! I hope you are all as excited as I am!"

~=*Waiting Room, Same Time*=~

"Phew, of everyone here, I could have gotten someone a lot worse." Touko said. She was sitting down on a bench.

Niels looked down at her disapprovingly. "Never underestimate your opponent. You may have done great in the last round, this time however, everything can change."

"Don't ruin my good mood, I might just let that plan of revenge slide if I win the next round." She said.

"The first match is going to start, are we going back or are we staying here?" Sander asked.

"Why don't we just stay here, we still got a good view with the screens in this room."

The battle between Drew and May was over very soon. Her Beautifly didn't stand a chance against his Roselia. Everyone thought that Drew went too far though with his assault on the poor Beautifly. There was no reason for it to take such a beating.

Next up it was Leona against Alicia, and Touko made sure that they were rooting for Leona.

* * *

"And now for the second match, it's Leona against Alicia. Coordinators, choose your Pokémon!"

Alicia had long, midnight black hair. Eyes that were gray with a touch of gold, and a pale peach skin. She wore a short sleeved gray shirt with a silver, Pichu necklace. Long, black jeans that were rolled up. She wore black Mary Jane's on her feet and a white headband around her head.

"Vulpix, take the stage!" Leona called out, and the threw her Pokéball.

"It's showtime Thunder!" Alicia said as she did the same. Thunder was obviously a nickname as a Pikachu got out of the Pokéball.

Both Pokémon landed gracefully on the ground, ready to show off their moves. A bell rung and the clock started to count down from five minutes.

"Vulpix, Inferno!"

"Thunder, use Volt Tackle!"

Vulpix released an amazing vortex of blue fire towards the Pikachu, but Thunder charged forward with its Volt Tackle, through the flames, as if it didn't even get hurt. Leona lost points, because even though the fire looked beautiful, the attack did not do anything.

"Thunder, jump and use Iron Tail!"

Thunder jumped in the air, and the electricity around it slowly faded, as did the fire. However, on its tail, those elements were still there, and the tail started glowing as well. Then Thunder turned around and thrust its tail at Vulpix, which got hit by three different attacks at once, causing Leona to lose more points.

"Excellent use of the opponent's attack." Contesta told Nurse Joy.

"Risky, but she pulled it off without a sweat."

"Remarkable."

"Vulpix, use Extrasensory!"

Vulpix released a rainbow colored beam from its mouth, striking the unsuspecting Pikachu. This caused Alicia to lose her first points. There were only three minutes left on the clock.

"Now Will-o-Wisp into Flamethrower!"

Vulpix shot several blue flames towards Thunder, and then jumped in the air. Then, Vulpix shot out a red and yellow flame while twirling down, creating what looked like a tornado, heading straight for the Pikachu.

"Thunder quick, dodge them with Double Team!"

In mere moments, the entire stage was filled with Pikachus, and Vulpix was surrounded.

"Now use a Thunderbolt!"

All Pikachu's started charging up, each of them releasing jolts of electricity upwards into the air above Vulpix, and then started coming down, all but one disappearing as that so happened.

"Vulpix, Fire Spin below you!"

Vulpix trapped itself in a vortex of fire, when the thunderbolt hit that vortex however, it bounced off. Sending it flying to all the Pikachu's on the stage. All but one of them vanished, and Alicia dropped in points enormously.

"What an unusual use for Fire Spin." Contesta said.

"But very effective." Nurse Joy noted.

"Remarkable."

"Now finish it with another Flamethrower!" Leona ordered.

The Fire Spin continued to rage whilst a burst of fire went in the direction of Thunder. It hit Thunder right in the face, sending it flying backwards. And then the time ran out.

* * *

"She did it!" Touko cheered.

"And now it's your turn." Sander said with a grin.

"Why are you grinning like that? I won't lose!"

"We'll see."

She turned around to look for Rebecca, but she had already left for the stage.

"Good luck." Niels said to her, when she was about to leave as well.

"Hey, when it comes to battling, I am far better at it then just showing off." She said with a wink.

* * *

"The third match will be between Touko and Rebecca. Coordinators, choose your Pokémon!"

"Grovyle! Let's show them what we can!" Touko yelled while she threw her Pokéball.

"Knew it. Rapidash, showtime!" Rebecca held her Pokéball in front of her while it opened up.

Touko was ready to take out her Pokédex when all of a sudden the ceiling of the Contest Hall broke apart and a balloon flew inside, then music started playing out of it. All the while, a large part of the audience was fleeing the scene because of debris was falling from the sky.

"Prepare for trouble!" A woman said.

"Make it double!" A man said.

* * *

"Oh you have GOT to be kidding me!" Niels yelled out, causing quite a lot of people in the room to look at him.

"_To protect the world from devastation!"_

"_To unite all people within all nations!"_

"Wait, something's different." Sander said. "Did they change their stupid song?"

"_To denounce the evils from truth and love!"_

"_To extend our reach to the stars above!"_

"_Jessie!"_

"_James!"_

"_Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"_

"_Surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight!"_

"_Meowth, that's right!"_

"_Wobbuffet!"_

Everyone in the room was staring blankly at the television screens. A few were giggling and chuckling.

"I can't believe they actually made their motto worse then that of Botch and Cassidy." Niels said.

"I can't believe they are actually here. Wingull made them blast off earlier today." Sander said.

"Think we got to help them?" Leona asked the two.

**A/N: How's that for an ending?**

**Once again, I am terribly sorry for the delay. There really needs to be some sort of Twitter system on this site.**

**Ans yes, I described May's clothing because it is her Emerald/DP outfit, which I think is better then the RS/AG one.**

**How did I do the contest so far? Room for improvement?**

**I will try to get the next chapter up by next Tuesday!**

**Review please.**

**FINAL EDIT! I DONT LIKE THE NEW LAYOUT OF FF!**

**And if you know how YouTube vids work, watch this in 1080p: watch?v=zagwDT7kPVM  
It's just... amazing... (hopefully the 'link' will show up :P)**


	22. Darkness Revealed!

**A/N: Well, that took long enough didn't it? A lot of stuff happened in these past months, ranging from family issues, school and vacations. Also gaming, lots and lots of gaming.**

**Anyway, I hope you will still read and review this after such a long time. Be warned as this is a very Plot and Character-introduction driven chapter.**

**As always I would like to thank: 'That's the way I roll', 'Emo Princess Addie (formerly Addie Marie Jones)', 'Cerridwen-Maiden', 'Wildstar of Wildclan', 'That Anon Guy (formerly Yuki-Judai123)', 'A Sea of Sound' and '3rdbase101 for reviewing the last chapter.**

**Also SPECIAL THANKS TO: 'tac1060' and 'Wildstar of Wildclan' for contacting me over the during those months of absence, you showed me that there really are people who want to see the story continue, and I needed that.**

**Also trust me when I say that even though your OC's are still not properly introduced, they will be in the future. As for OC's that haven't appeared yet, be patient. This is a long story, there is nothing to worry about.**

**Enjoy.**

Niels, Sander, Leona, Alicia and several others, people and Pokémon alike, were running towards the main hall. As it turned out, it was quite a distance from there to the waiting rooms when you had to get there in a hurry.

"Can you stop for a second, I am not a sprinter." Sander said while he was panting.

"You keep going LeLe, we'll be with you soon."

"Don't you dare ever call me that again!" Leona shot back at him, which earned her a large grin back.

He turned to Sander. "Now what?" Niels asked, clearly annoyed by the fact that he wasn't fighting yet.

Sander watched as everyone that ran along with them, made their way around the corner. "I think I'm fine now."

"Well then get a move on." Niels turned around and took a step forward. Once he noticed Sander wasn't moving, he looked back and felt a fist hit his face and he fell towards the floor.

"Get out of him!" Sander yelled.

Niels looked up at Sander, confused and shocked. "Why would... would you hit me like that?" His voice was almost unhearable.

"That may have fooled me four years ago, but it won't happen today."

"Fine." He said in a much louder voice while he stood back up on his feet. When he looked at Sander in the eyes, Sander took a step back from the sudden red color in them. "Well then, we meet again."

~=*Sevii Islands, same time*=~

Alarms rang across the room. The room looked like a command center, with dozens of high-tech equipment stationed there, and several people running around not knowing what to do.

"Can somebody turn the damn alarm off!" A late-thirty/early-forty year old man with short black hair and a stubbled beard asked. He was also wearing a black business suit.

Moments later the alarm turned off and everyone calmed down.

"Now." He put on his glasses as he walked towards the nearest screen. "What seems to be the problem, and make it quick, I got an appointment soon."

A young man no older then twenty stood next to him. "Well, we just detected a massive energy spike in Hoenn. We are trying to find the exact location now."

"Newborn?"

"Unlikely, and if it is, then we got a serious problem." He looked at the card in his hand. "Data shows it was a Level 3 outburst."

"Level 3? Are you sure this is correct?"

"Odds are it was even stronger, the satellite used to locate it was one of the older models." The man looked nervously at his boss. "Should we sent in a team?"

"There hasn't been that kind of burst since-"

"-the 19th century." The man finished.

Someone else in the room stood up. "Slateport City is the location. Putting it on the map now." a woman notified the boss. "That's the best we can do with this satellite."

The boss however didn't look at Slateport, something else caught his eye. " What is this?" he pointed at several, far smaller spikes, on the map of Hoenn.

"Oh those are spikes we picked up, but were too small to be a newborn, so they had to be Pokémon. We didn't pay any attention to them."

The boss sighed. "So you failed to see that there is a pattern in them." He pointed at them, one by one, from Petalburg City, to the Woods, to Rustboro City, Timber Island, Dewford Island and the middle of the ocean between Dewford and Slateport. "They become stronger each time."

The room was instantly whispering to each other.

"We spend millions of PokéDollars on research to prevent the world from destruction, and when a mistake gets made, its human?" He shouted angrily at them. "Unnoticed until it is too late. That is _one _person doing those, don't ask me how it makes them so small, it just does!" He sat down in the chair behind him. "And that's not even the worst part, cancel my appointment with the Aura Council."

~=*Contest Hall, same time*=~

The contest hall was in ruins. Debris was scattered everywhere, and it was a miracle nobody had gotten hurt. Those that didn't flee were now looking at the balloon, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Now James, activate the Super Poké Sucker 1.1!" Jessie said.

James pushed a button and a giant hose of some sort got out of the balloon and it then started sucking up all of the smaller Pokémon, that had been watching the contest, as well as everyone's Pokéballs.

Jessie, James and the Meowth laughed as they saw their plan work.

* * *

Touko and Rebecca looked at each other and nodded. They were the only ones her that would be able to do something.

While Rapidash stood firm thanks to her weight, the same could not be said for Grovyle, who had extended the leaves on her arms and impaled them into the ground.

"Epona, use Flame Wheel on that... eh... thing!" Rebecca ordered.

"Grovyle! Send a Bulle- Wait." _'That would just hurt the Pokémon inside, as the seeds would get sucked in there as well.' _Touko realized, and with that, it also sunk in that she couldn't do anything, Grovyle had mostly attacks that would require him to get close, but if she would stop holding on to the ground, she would just fly in, like most other Pokémon. They could use some help by now.

A fire surrounded Epona, and she charged forward to the balloon and machine.

"Not so fast!" Jessie said while she opened a Pokéball. "Seviper use Haze!"

A large black snake Pokémon appeared and released thick smoke out of its mouth, obscuring the balloon and its owners.

Epona jumped through the smoke, and came out on the other side, confused as to why she hadn't hit the balloon.

When Touko looked at Rebecca, she saw that she was not worried about the situation at all. Atleast, that's what it looked like to her.

"Aqua, Hydro Pump at that machine!" A voice shouted from behind them.

They looked around to see Alicia standing there with a big, bulky, bipedal crocodilian Pokémon next to her. It was mostly blue in color, though its lower jaw and belly were yellow, and it had spikes on its back which were red. Its body was covered in scales and it had large claws on its hands. When it opened its mouth, a large set of teeth were shown.

The Pokémon released a large jet off water at the smoke cloud, and the bits of machine still underneath it. When it hit, the machine broke off with a loud noise.

Touko seized this opportunity to get her Pokédex out and scan the Pokémon. "Feraligatr, the Big Jaw Pokémon. The final evolution of Totodile. Once a Feraligatr has clamped its powerful jaws around an opponent, it won't let go until the opponent is defeated."

_'Doesn't sound very friendly.' _She thought to herself.

The smoke started to vanish and the balloon and its occupants became visible.

"Well, I guess that's the end of this machine." James said.

"No matter, we got what we wanted."

A group of teenagers and a Pokémon ran into the hall via another entrance.

"Team Rocket!/PiPi-kachu!" They said in unison.

"Listen, is that a voice I hear?" Jessie started.

"It's speaking to me loud and clear." James followed

"Will you two stop it! Stop wasting time and get zat Pikachu already so we can get outta here." Meowth used his nails to scratch his accomplices faces, earning them some curious looks from everyone who were standing in the hall before they reminded themselves that they were fighting criminals.

James pulled out a grappling hook of some sort with a rubber hand at the end, and shot it towards the Pikachu at the group, which in turn hit him. Then he pulled the hand back and inside of the basket of the balloon.

"Hope you enjoyed the show! We'll be back soon for more!" Jessie said to the crowd before they managed to fly away, after dodging a few attacks that some of the remaining Pokémon tried to shoot at them.

* * *

"You will stop me?" 'Niels' laughed, loud and long. Sander felt a chill running through his spine. "If you wanted to stop me you would have done so years ago. Or even a few weeks back when you found out that I survived." He took a step forward. "But you are scared. Scared that you will lose your only friend in this world, scared that Touko will kill you when she finds out, scared that it would only speed up the process of my plans."

Sander tried to look for words after the realization struck him, he was scared for more things then just those three reasons."I- I'm trying to find a different way."

'Niels' stopped laughing. "A different way? Like what? Do tell me as I'm genuinely interested in what _you _have to say."

"I know that there are others like you, and they have the power to defeat you." Sander said, regaining his composure.

A grin formed on the others face. "The Brotherhood of Dark-Aura Users has long since lost their true powers, and will be annihilated in mere hours from now, unfortunately plans have been sped up. Those that didn't are loyal to me, and will do the annihilation." He stopped to think for a second. "Then there are of course the Aura Guardians, a group of people that have become rarer and rarer with every passing decade. They don't stand a chance unless they ally themselves with the Brotherhood, but as I said, there will be no such a thing soon."

A couple of explosions could be heard from inside the hall, Sander wondered how nobody had seen the two of them yet.

"I feel time is running out, so if that is all, then lets say our goodbyes, until we meet again." His eyes started to blank out a bit.

"Why are you so certain that you will win this war anyway?"

Eyes returning to what they were seconds ago, he said: "Why are you so certain that everything you do is out of your own free will?" Before his eyes became blue again and he shook his head in confusion.

Niels stared at Sander, trying to figure out what had just happened, while Sander looked afraid.

"You spoke to him didn't you?"

Sander simply nodded.

"Man, I thought that was just a dream, but this is an odd place to fall asleep anyway. So I pretty much heard the entire conversation... Which means I need to check something." He grabbed Sanders arm, who cooperated, having an idea of what Niels was trying to do.

"And?"

"There is definitely something there that shouldn't be a part of you."

"But how did that happen? And if I have him inside of me, then who else could have?" At that statement Niels looked away a bit. "Oh of course, Touko has doesn't she?"

"Yes... She has had it since we arrived in Slateport, or earlier."

"And why exactly do you check on her when I have been running around with I for who knows how long? What does she have that I don't?"

"That depends on how you look at it."

"You know that's not what I mean."

"Alright fine, she came to me. Something happened to her on the Aqua ship and she wanted to know if I knew what it was. So then I checked on her and I found out he was inside of her. I don't know how he did it but he just did." Niels was quiet for a moment. "I am sorry, I should have guessed he would be inside of you as well.

It was silent for a moment and then Sander started looking through his backpack. "I hate to do this but..." He pulled out a gun and pointed it at Niels. The smile on Niels' face faded slowly.

"You know that's what he wants you to do."

"Yes." And he flicked something that made the magazine drop out and Niels let out a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding. "I'm breaking a promise, one you made me swear a long time ago."

Sander kicked the magazine away, and threw the pistol in a nearby trashcan.

"For a second there I thought you were going to shoot me."

"For a second there I thought so too." Sander said quietly. "Just one thing, do you know what the answer to the question was I asked him?"

"It's the only logical conclusion."

* * *

"Sir, if this is true then..."

"Then the world has no chance to survive this coming war." He said with a sad sigh.

He and the young, promising and very intelligent kid had gone down to the catacombs deep beneath the stone of their headquarters. An eerie atmosphere hung around the place, a few old light bulbs were the only source of light they had among the rows of books and manuscripts.

"No sir, I think I understand why you want me to read this prophecy. To look for anything you and the others before you might have missed." The kid continued. "This isn't the end just yet."

"What do you mean Kenneth? This prophecy has been around for hundreds of years, and so far it fits perfectly. What could we have possibly missed." Though he meant to say it in an angry fashion, he was more fascinated with the fact that he was right once again, and was eager to find out what they had missed all these years.

"Well, you see what it says right here?" He pointed at an area of the old piece of paper.

"The one about the traitors, yes?"

"It never really specifies who this is about. I mean, who betrays who." Kenneth looked further down. "And because of the pieces that are missing here, this part about the Gods coming down just so they get defeated, does not really fit."

The man looked carefully and saw what Kenneth meant. "I see. I assume you can find out more things if you could study it longer?"

Kenneth looked taken aback by this. "A-are we allowed to take this back upstairs?"

"I allow it. Let us leave."

They left the room filled with books, to walk back through the hallway they came in from. Numerous doors were scattered every few meters. They kept walking until Kenneth suddenly stopped next to a door. It was the same as any other door, but he had felt something that put his survival instinct on.

"Sir. John. There are people in that room." He whispered. "We should be alone down here."

John laughed. "Nonsense, there aren't any _people_ in here. I'll show you."

Before Kenneth could stop him, he opened the door and walked inside. Kenneth carefully trad behind him, making sure he was ready in the case of an attack.

The room was lit with dimmed green lights, and filled with scientific equipment.

"Who is this?" A female voice came from the darkness.

"He seems different. Not one of us." A male said.

The door slammed shut behind them.

Kenneth was afraid yet didn't show it, this wasn't good, he shouldn't have gone inside, what was he thinking telling his boss about that feeling?

Twelve figures stepped out of the darkness. Their eyes glistering a bright red color.

"I am sure you read that part in the prophecy, the one that talked about the fourteen allies of _him_?" John turned around to face Kenneth. "Well, these are the first twelve."

Kenneth was now also confused. The _first_ twelve? What was that supposed to mean? "And where are the other two then?" He asked.

A girl, presumably the same one as before judging by her voice, as he still could not see their faces, spoke up. "The other two are located next to you, in those pods." Kenneth looked to his right, the way he had seen the girls arm move, and was shocked. Inside two 'pods' were two people, children by the looks of it, no older then fifteen.

"Are you brainwashing them?" He was trying to buy time, if he didn't he knew he'd die here.

The entire group laughed. "Of course not. That is impossible. These are clones just like us, their DNA altered so that they will be allowed to use the powers dark-aura users have at their disposal. However I was surprised he managed to clone an aura-user." She paused momentarily. "These are six days old. And will be released tomorrow. Then, we shall feed upon those on this island."

Kenneth's mind worked fast, he could not understand some things. For once, cloning a being in a week should be impossible, if cloning itself was even possible, but that much he was willing to accept. What kind of technology was behind this then? "Do you have a name?"

It was quiet. There was no response. Kenneth knew he had found an opening. "No name huh? Any memories? What's the best thing that ever happened to you?" He thought that as clones, they wouldn't have memories other then this room.

"My name is irrelevant, names are to be decided on a later date." The girl said silently. Kenneth could feel the confusion emitting from her. "And the best thing that happened to me was my birth."

He was disappointed, he had hoped something would come out of that. Instead of asking more questions, which would surely piss them off more, he turned to John. "Why?"

"Why am I helping them? Because I intend to live through this war, it has been fought before and will be fought again in the future."

"What does that mean?"

A male voice from somewhere in the room answered that. "This has been going on for millenia. Every time humanity gets technologically advanced, we strike them down to let them start all over. The cycle cannot be stopped, no mortal has ever been able to do so."

Kenneth was deciding whether to laugh at that, or be terrified. He turned to his former teacher. "And you actually believe that."

"Yes, not that it matters, there is no way we can win the coming war. No matter how much we fight. Join us, and you may live in the city we have been promised."

He looked like he had been punched in his face. "Well then... I know what I must do." An emerald colored blade of pure energy formed in his hand.

"Don't be a fool, I trained you to be the best, but you cannot hope to compete with them." John said. He had expected him to cooperate, to choose to live.

All around him the twelve others started to form their own blades, every single one more fearsome looking then the next.

"I know where my loyalties lie, and I can feel even the darkness inside of me knows what I do is best." Kenneth spoke. "You thought us how to control it, with its help I am willing to bet I can take at least a few of you down before I go down."

"Listen to what you are saying, you should listen to reason, don't-"

"ENOUGH!" One of the males of the dozen said. "One at a time, lowest rank first. That'll be me."

"You will listen to me, and you will not attack before I give you the order." John said calmly.

"Old man, we got orders from higher up to follow, do not oppose us. He will punish you otherwise." He focused back on his opponent. "You have dueled before?" Kenneth nodded. "No Pokémon, no help. Just you and me."

"Suits me just fine."

They held the swords in front of each other, and made a bow. What followed happened so quick, neither Kenneth nor John saw what had just taken place. But Kenneth's body was lying on the floor, a large gaping hole through his chest where his heart had been.

John was the first to speak after that. "That was not a fair duel."

"We don't play by the rules." The girl from before said. "We will storm this island, and kill everyone in our way. All of you know what to do, so let's go."

The twelve left the room, John kept looking at the brave fool who was now dead. A single tear making his way across his face as he did so. And the thought of where things had gone wrong still processing.

* * *

They were running, a large group of trainers, coordinators and police officers heading after the balloon that had stolen most of the Pokémon they owned.

Touko was next to Rebecca who had been silent, determined and calm, the complete opposite of Alice who was a bit farther away from them and who had been silently crying the entire time, Touko didn't know if that was because her Pokemon had been taken, or because she had twisted her ankle and had to keep running on it. Leona was there as well, and she couldn't help but wonder how she got into this group and where Sander and Niels were. They had been right behind her as far as she knew.

And then there was Ash & co. Touko decided to call them that because he had taken the lead. His Pikachu had to have meant a lot to him as he looked as determined as Rebecca. The others with him were also keen on getting their Pokémon back.

And then there was Drew, the arrogant prat. He had refused to run and instead opted to go on the back of a police officers bike because he had 'health-problems' that prevented him from doing too much exercise. Touko didn't even know why he was here anyway, it wasn't like any of his Pokémon were taken, they were at the Contest Halls Nurse Joy to get ready for his next battle.

They had seen the balloon go down ever so slightly the closer they came to it. The damage done to it had been too much too handle. And now it was grazing the treetops.

Honestly, even with the few Pokémon they had, this would still be a very one-sided battle. Alicia's Feraligatr, Rebecca's Rapidash and of course her own Grovyle were by no means weak Pokémon. And there were a few more people left with Pokémon. Some that had gotten their's back from the Pokémon Center, like Drew, and those that had been too slow to get to the hall from the waiting rooms, like Sander and Niels.

She looked backwards, _'Never mind, they are still not here. What could possibly be more important then this?' _

"You are wondering where they are too." Leona said, it wasn't a question, she was right.

"Yes, it's just weird, and they can be sure to be on the receiving end of my wrath when I see them." Touko joked. Somehow, she couldn't help but not trust Leona. Which was odd considering all she had done so far was help. "Have you still gotten Pokémon with you?"

"Oh yes, Team Rocket won't know what hit them." She answered with a smile. "They may not be that strong, but combined with everyone else."

It took them five more minutes before they finally arrived arrived at the crashsite of Team Rocket's balloon. Small Pokémon were already swarming them, and a lot of Pokéballs were just lying around.

"No get them off, get them off!" James was running around with a Plusle and Minun on his back, zapping him at every possible moment.

"Not the hair, not the hair!" Jessie shrieked as a Weepinbell was clamped on her hair.

All in all, there wasn't much to do. Their Pokémon were already knocked out by a combined effort of most Pokémon taken from their trainers led by Ash's Pikachu.

"Oh come on, we came all this way only to find out that the Pokémon are fine. Whatever, I'm leaving." Drew said, earning him several angry glances from other trainers.

"Well, look at it on the bright side, the hardest thing we have to do now is finding our Pokémon." Leona said pointing at the possibly hundreds of Pokéballs.

Touko groaned, this was going to be a long day.

She heard an explosion and watched Team Rocket blast away into the air. She didn't really care, she was too tired from running, as was everyone else.

**A/N: I am sure there will be a lot of questions regarding this chapter, you can always ask if you want to. And yes originally there was supposed to be a battle between everyone and Team Rocket, but that didn't make much sense in the end to do.**

**Next chapter we return to catching Pokémon, so stay tuned until then.**

**Please leave a review.**


	23. Important AN!

Hello everybody,

I am making this little AN regarding the status of this story and its future updates. And also to answer some questions you may have had at some point. **ALSO!: In order for me to reply to reviews/questions, you need to turn on PM's for your profile! **

This story is currently on hiatus until I have rewritten the first 8/9 or so chapters at least,  the reason is that I want to improve the writing there as it is, simply put, abysmal. It is poor and it was my first attempt at writing anything ever. Secondly, I am changing the canon of my story. There are a few things I want different, it won't be anything very major, but things like:

- The Dark Niels (let's call him Slein just to make things easy for me here, that is not an official name.) having a presence starting from the very first few sentences in the story.  
- Norman knowing about Slein, explaining his hostility towards Niels in general.  
- The unused Sander's mom plotline removed or exapnded upon in later chapters.  
- Further characterization added for all major Pokémon characters, including those from OC's.  
- Rick/Taillow scene improved (or made worse, deepending on how you look at it ;) ).  
- The reason why Touko's backstory is explained to Sander/Niels by her dad.  
- Briney's Boat/Timber Island scene redo partially/completely.  
- Add in an Alfred cameo during Slateport.  
- Earlier mentions of looming distress in the world, possibly as far back as chapter 1 with a TV/Radio broadcast or something.  
- Add some form of background for Slein.  
- More mentions of odd happenings at Meteor Falls.  
- Bagon's being at the Route explained in the same chapter, rather then in a later one.  
- And some other stuff I might come across.

Stuff like that. Nothing incredibly major, but I feel it will add to the story in general. And make it easier for newcomers to read and like.

This story is far more popular then I first expected it to become, I expected it to fail, miserably. But thanks to you, all of you, it did not. And now, I feel obligated to make the story better, before continuing it. Clear up the confusing parts, and make it better in general.

I want to give a HUGE shoutout to all of the readers and reviewers, who helped make this story become what it is now. I want to thank in particular: **'That Anon Guy', 'Inhuman X', '3rdbase101', 'Wildstar of Windclan', 'Emo Princess Addie' and 'That's the way I roll'. ** Though I will not forget: **'A Sea of Sound', 'Cerridwen-Maiden', 'draconic skysong', 'MeguMegu3.0', 'tac1060', 'Mew Musica', 'MEIKO no Kokoro **(you definitely had a different name before, and I don't know which one.)**', 'The Last Dragonite **(Sonicboom123456)**' ** and anyone I might have forgotten that actually left a _proper_ review.

Writer's Block and other things have kind of kept me from writing the last few months as well, and I got a new PC, build it myself, and now I can play all the latest games which definitely DID NOT help at all.

So yes, until the next update, or the next PM depending on if anyone leaves a note or not, and I hope you do, gives me a bit of a boost to work faster :D

In the meantime, I do have another story (or just the prologue with the first chapter coming soon) up. Just in case you are interested in a Mass Effect/Harry Potter crossover or simply more writing by myself. 0 reviews, but 3 story alerts (2 favorites), I hate those people...

And now for some stories that I think deserve more hits, even if they get millions to begin with.

Category → Pokémon → 'The Gutter Runner' by Sundered Heart  
Category → Harry Potter → 'Delenda Est' by Lord Silvere  
Category → Mass Effect → 'Into the Fire' by Bale626  
Category → Mass Effect → 'Masses to Masses' (1,2 and 3) by iNf3ctioNZ  
Category → Crossover → Halo/Mass Effect → 'Make it Count' by JeanDaBean  
Category → Crossover → Doctor Who/Mass Effect → 'Storm on the Horizon' by Heroes Failcraft Society

Read them if you want to.

And as always, if you have questions, feel free to ask them.

For now, this is Niels-Thomas-1, signing out.

P.S. This AN will be deleted once the actual chapter 23 goes up.


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